Invoice Processing
Invoice Processing Manually
In medium and large-sized organisations, invoice processing is a core part of the Accounts Payable function and plays a key role in financial control. Effective invoice management supports accurate cash flow forecasting, giving finance teams clear visibility over upcoming payments and liabilities.
Beyond cash flow, invoice data provides insight into supplier performance, purchasing efficiency, and the health of supply chains. When invoices are processed accurately and on time, businesses benefit from stronger supplier relationships, fewer disputes, and a more reliable, well-controlled AP process.
Manual Invoice Process and Journey
In a manual invoice process, invoices enter the business in a variety of formats, including paper, email attachments, PDFs, or other digital files. Regardless of how the invoice is received, key information must be identified and captured before it can be processed by the Accounts Payable team.
This typically involves extracting basic header details from the invoice, such as:
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Supplier name and details
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Invoice date
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Purchase order number
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Invoice reference number
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Net amount
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VAT amount
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Total invoice value
In manual workflows, this information is often entered into finance systems by hand, creating delays and increasing the risk of errors before the invoice can move through approval and payment.
How Does the Manual Invoice Process Work?
Invoice data is manually entered into a finance system, spreadsheet, or payment platform before being submitted for approval. In most cases, invoices are checked against purchase orders and goods received notes through two-way or three-way matching to confirm accuracy.
Copies of invoices are then circulated for approval and often scanned or stored electronically for audit purposes. Once approved, invoices may require additional sign-off before being passed back to the Accounts Payable team for payment.
At every stage, manual handling introduces delays and risk. Data entry, document movement, and filing increase the likelihood of errors, lost invoices, and approval bottlenecks.
Approval Delays and Manual Handling Risks
Once an invoice is entered into a finance system, it is typically circulated across the business for matching and approval. This stage introduces some of the most common causes of delay, with invoices being misplaced in in-trays, sent to the wrong approver, overlooked, or held up when key individuals are on leave or unavailable.
As approvals stall, the Accounts Payable team often spends valuable time chasing invoices internally while also responding to supplier queries about payment status. When invoices do return for payment, additional manual checks are required, including supplier details, coding, tax validation, budget updates, and reporting. Each step adds time, increases workload, and raises the risk of errors within the process.
Invoice Processing with Automation
Invoice automation ranges from simple data capture through to fully integrated purchase-to-pay workflows. More advanced solutions can capture invoice data, perform two-way or three-way matching, apply coding rules, manage exceptions, and route invoices through digital approval workflows before posting directly to the finance system for payment.
By automating these steps, businesses remove many of the delays and risks associated with manual invoice processing. Touchpoints are reduced, visibility is improved, and invoices move through the process faster and more consistently, supporting accurate reporting and timely supplier payments.
Discuss Your Invoice Processing Challenges
Inefficient invoice processing can slow down productivity, disrupt cash flow, and place unnecessary pressure on your Accounts Payable team. Automated invoice matching simplifies purchase order processing, reduces manual effort, and helps invoices move through approval and payment more quickly.
By introducing AI into accounts payable, businesses can move away from paper-based invoices and error-prone manual processes, creating a faster, more controlled AP function. Documation works with organisations to solve complex invoice and document processing challenges, delivering solutions that fit existing systems and ways of working.
Get in touch with our team to explore how invoice automation could improve efficiency, visibility, and control across your AP process.
Our Testimonials
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“Of course, when choosing a new system, it is difficult but I absolutely love Documation, it’s a very simple tool to use, it is intuitive and the functionality was exactly what we were looking for.
Auto matching and auto distribution are two of the most time saving functions that an AP Team could wish for”.
-Liz Coffey – Accounts Payable Manager at Weetabix
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We chose Documation as our AP Automation provider because they are a UK based software development company, and had an expert support team, along with powerful software that exceeded our requirements. Documation are efficient, user friendly and always offer their help and support.
-Rachel Heys, Accounts Payable Team at Agrovista
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“Documation’s experience and depth of knowledge was evident, every base had been covered, it has clearly been built by AP Professionals with an understanding of the problems that Accounts Payable face on a daily basis, and the match query solution was a clear winner!”
-Liz Coffey Accounts Payable Manager at Weetabix
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“One of the real key things for us was Documation’s understanding of what our requirements were which made it really easy for us to get the solution that we wanted. They listened to our needs and offered advice and recommendations in line with our budget.”
Kerry Bailey, Strategic P2P Manager
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Nancy Easey, Central Finance & Project Improvement Manager
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Ian Westlake, Head of Procurement
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