What is a three-way match?
Three-way match compares three documents before an invoice is paid: the purchase order, the record of what was received, and the supplier's invoice. If quantity and price agree within tolerance, the invoice is approved for payment.
Example
PO 4410 orders 100 brackets at $2.50, $250. The warehouse receives 90. The invoice bills 100 at $2.50, $250.
The PO and invoice agree, but the receipt says 90. The match fails on quantity. Paying $250 would pay for 10 brackets that haven't arrived, so the invoice is held until the supplier ships the rest or sends a credit for $25.
In Atta
Atta holds the three records against one request. The order carries the lines and prices. Receipts are written against those lines, and a receipt on a line linked to a stock item moves the stock for the difference. A received e-invoice is linked by the PO number it names (BT-13, then BT-10) and becomes the request's invoice row.
The invoice link is deliberately strict. An invoice that names no PO we can find is not attached to a purchase on the strength of the supplier name alone. A person looks at it.
Tolerance
Exact matches on every line are rare. Most teams set a tolerance, such as 2% on price or 5 units on quantity, and only route exceptions outside it to a person. In the bracket example, a $25 gap on a $250 invoice is 10%, well outside a 2% tolerance.
Questions
What is two-way match?
It compares only the PO and the invoice, without the receipt. It's used for services and low-risk purchases where there is nothing to receive.
Related
- What is PO matching?PO matching links a supplier invoice to the purchase order it belongs to and checks price and quantity agree. Definition with a worked example.
- What is a purchase order?A purchase order is a document a buyer sends a supplier listing what is being bought, the quantity and the agreed price. Definition and example.
- E-invoicing for purchases: Peppol, XRechnung and Factur-XAtta sends purchase orders over Peppol, receives e-invoices in EN 16931 formats like XRechnung and Factur-X, and links each one to the purchase it names.