Case study

Invoice approval automation

Every invoice goes through the same manual approval loop, even when it fully matches the purchase order. The system matches it, evaluates the match and approves or escalates automatically.

The problem

The company approves invoices manually — the approver compares the invoice against the purchase order and delivery note on their own, without system support. Even when an invoice fully matches the purchase order and the delivery, it goes through the same manual approval loop as an invoice with a discrepancy.

There is no unified, electronic and auditable process — for every deviation (price, quantity, supplier, currency) it is unclear who should decide and under which rules, so the whole approval process takes up time even for problem-free invoices.

What this causes

Unnecessary manual checks even for invoices that fully match the purchase order and delivery note.
Slow and opaque handling of discrepancies — there is no clear escalation path or accountability.
A risk of errors and fraud without system matching and an audit trail.
Insufficient auditability — it is hard to trace back who approved or rejected an invoice, and why.

What the client gains

Automatic approval of invoices on a 100% match with the purchase order and delivery note — with no human intervention.
A clear escalation process for discrepancies, with a notification to a specific approver.
A complete audit log of every decision — approval, return for correction, rejection.
A transparent and legally defensible workflow that holds up under retrospective review.

How we solve it

Invoice intake

The invoice arrives in the system in a defined format and the system verifies that it is legible and complete.

Automatic matching

The system automatically matches the invoice with the corresponding purchase order and delivery note.

Match evaluation

If the invoice matches 100%, the system approves it straight away and passes it on for posting. If not, it escalates the discrepancy to a specific approver.

4 The approver's decision

The approver receives a notification with the detail of the discrepancy and decides — approve, return for correction, or reject.

Recording and hand-off for posting

Every step and decision is stored in the audit log and the invoice continues to accounting processing.

Further uses

Extending automatic matching and approval to other document types (contracts, purchase orders, delivery notes against each other)
Detection of suspicious patterns (duplicate invoices, repeated discrepancies from the same supplier)
Reporting on average approval time and the most frequent types of discrepancies
Connecting to the follow-up process of extracting data from the invoice (see Automated invoice processing)

Technologies

Python

Azure

OpenAI

Case studies