What are the key invoice verification standards and guidelines

you follow or recommend?

Invoice verification is a crucial process for ensuring the accuracy and validity of invoices
from suppliers and vendors. It helps you avoid overpaying, detect fraud, and comply with
tax and accounting regulations. In this article, you will learn about some of the key invoice
verification standards and guidelines you follow or recommend to improve your efficiency
and accuracy.

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Verify invoice details

The first step in invoice verification is to check the invoice details against the purchase
order, contract, or delivery note. You should verify the invoice number, date, supplier
name, address, and contact information, as well as the item description, quantity, price, and
unit of measure. You should also check for any discounts, taxes, shipping charges, or other
fees that may apply. If you find any discrepancies, errors, or missing information, you
should contact the supplier and request a correction or clarification.

Validate invoice authenticity

The next step in invoice verification is to validate the invoice authenticity and prevent
fraud. You should look for signs of tampering, alteration, duplication, or forgery on the
invoice, such as mismatched fonts, colors, logos, or signatures. You should also verify the
supplier's bank account details, payment terms, and invoice format. You can use tools such
as digital signatures, encryption, or blockchain to secure and verify the invoice data. If you
suspect any fraud, you should report it to the relevant authorities and reject the invoice.
Match invoice with goods receipt
The third step in invoice verification is to match the invoice with the goods receipt or
service confirmation. You should compare the invoice quantity and quality with the actual
goods or services received and accepted. You should also check for any damages, defects, or
deviations from the specifications. You should document any discrepancies or issues and
communicate them to the supplier and the procurement department. You should only
approve the invoice if the goods or services match the invoice and meet your expectations.

Approve invoice for payment

The fourth step in invoice verification is to approve the invoice for payment and process it
in your accounting system. You should follow the internal policies and procedures for
invoice approval and authorization, such as the delegation of authority, segregation of
duties, or approval limits. You should also ensure that the invoice is coded correctly and
allocated to the appropriate cost center, project, or budget. You should record the invoice
date, amount, payment terms, and due date in your system and generate a payment order.

Collaborating with colleagues is crucial when assessing which invoices should be

approved for payment. It's essential to review the invoice details and determine the
relevant department or person to handle it. Providing payment history information can
be helpful in the decision-making process, especially if the invoice amount significantly
differs from previous payments. This approach ensures that the organization avoids
overpaying and fosters trust among colleagues.

Monitor invoice status and payment

The fifth step in invoice verification is to monitor the invoice status and payment and
ensure that they are completed on time and accurately. You should track the invoice
progress and status in your system and follow up with any pending or delayed invoices.
You should also verify that the payment is made according to the agreed terms and
conditions, such as the payment method, currency, amount, and date. You should reconcile
the payment with the invoice and the bank statement and resolve any discrepancies or
errors.

Review invoice verification performance

The sixth step in invoice verification is to review your invoice verification performance and
identify any areas for improvement or optimization. You should measure and analyze your
invoice verification metrics, such as the invoice accuracy rate, invoice processing time,
invoice exception rate, invoice payment rate, or invoice verification cost. You should also
solicit feedback from your suppliers, customers, and stakeholders on your invoice
verification process and quality. You should use the data and feedback to benchmark your
performance against best practices and industry standards and implement any changes or
enhancements to your process.

Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of
the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

Invoice Verification Process: How to Check if an Invoice is Valid?

Invoices can often contain mistakes, making it critical to have a robust mechanism for their verification.
Learn how you can achieve that through this article.

Nothing more can go wrong for a company than paying a wrong invoice or settling twice for the same
thing. Businesses of all scales need to deal with invoices, which is a critical part of the sales process. The
more the number of invoices your accounts team deals with more the chances of costly errors that can
set back your business by hundreds and thousands of dollars.

Invoice verification is thus a critical task that your accounts team needs to follow. But what exactly is it?
What are the various steps involved in the process? What internal resources do you need to match
invoices? Can automation play a role here? This guide answers all the pertinent questions you may have
regarding invoice verification.

What is the Invoice Verification Process?

‍

According to a study, almost 61% of late payments happen due to incorrect invoices. The invoice
verification process thus assumes a lot of importance. It is essential to remember that an invoice is not
just a piece of paper with numbers on it. It is a legal document. If there are mistakes on an invoice, it may
take longer for the seller to get paid for their services.

To verify an invoice, you need to:

‍

 Review the invoice and compare it against the original order form.
 Look at each item on the invoice to ensure that its description matches the original order form.
 Check for typos or other errors related to quantities or prices.

What are the Various Options to Verify an Invoice?

Checking Purchase Orders

Matching invoices with purchase orders is a time-honored way to verify your invoices. It involves cross-
referencing the information on the invoice, including price, quantity, and description, with the purchase
order information. If there are any discrepancies, you should investigate them further before proceeding
with payment.
Checking Goods Receipt
One of the other methods to verify an invoice is by matching it with a goods receipt. You can compare
the details on both documents, such as vendor name and address, item description, quantity, and price.

Exceptional Cases
Your accounts team may not have a purchase order (PO) to verify with the invoice. In these cases, your
team would have to involve concerned stakeholders to ensure the invoice's validity.

How does the Invoice Verification Process Work?

Verifying Accuracy
Once you have received an invoice, you can check it against the purchase order to ensure each
information item matches accurately. If there are any discrepancies, your team will have to contact the
supplier to get them corrected.

Checking the Invoice Date

The invoice date is one of the vital parts of the verification process as it tells you when you need to pay
the supplier. The date is usually on the top right-hand side of the invoice. It will also help your team
know if they have not missed the payment deadline. Some service providers may have a late fee in case
of delayed payments, which may prove costly.

Getting Internal Approval from the Project Manager

This is a step in the process where your accounts team will ask the project manager to confirm if the
services listed on the invoice were provided. The project manager will also need to check the accuracy of
item quantities and their unit price, which can remain prone to discrepancies.

Checking Vendor Information

When you get an invoice from a vendor, you want to ensure it is real. You do not want to pay for
something that is not real or authorized by your company. Furthermore, you also do not want to be
taken advantage of by vendors who do not have your best interests at heart. Crosschecking vendor
details in the database will help at this step.

Scheduling Payment
Once your team ensures everything is in place, they can schedule the payment. It requires careful
execution of the earlier steps. For example, your team should ensure that every detail is correct and
there are enough approvals before they make the payment.

Checklist for Invoice Verification

Here is a handy checklist your accounts team can adopt for invoice verification.

Ensure that Invoice is Unpaid

It is essential to ensure you do not pay the invoice twice, especially if it is a big one. If you are worried
that you have already paid this invoice or that there are multiple invoices for the same service or
product, check your bank statements and accounting software.

Resolve Discrepancies or Issues

‍

When you receive an invoice, you might find some discrepancies or issues. Resolving them is essential as
it will help you to have an accurate record of your expenses and allow you to pay accurately for what
you owe.

Match it with Supporting Documents

It is critical to match the invoice with supporting documents before making payment. It will prevent you
from paying for unwanted goods and services. Similarly, if there is a discrepancy and you pay more than
what you should, you may face problems getting reimbursed.

Invoice Verification Documents

Here are various documents you will need at the time of invoice verification.
Purchase Order

 Estimate or quote with a description of services.

 Trade license number on the invoice.
 Delivery notes with valid signatures.
 Payment receipts related to reimbursements.

Invoice for goods or services you have not bought

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If the invoice is for something you did not purchase, it is likely a fake invoice. Look at the invoice details
and see if it matches up with anything you have ordered or done business with. If not, you are likely
getting scammed.

Suspiciously High Amount

If the invoice has an unusually high amount, it could be a scammer trying to get your money by inflating
their price. Check with your company's internal departments or call them directly to clear the concerns
about the invoice.

Unusual Requests
‍

If the sender asks for information or actions that do not seem right, check into it further before sending
any payment information or making payment—it could be a scam.

An Email with Suspicious Links

Consider it a red flag if you receive an invoice with links to suspicious websites. Fake invoices often
include embedded links that direct you to scam websites. These sites may look like the real thing but are
set up by cybercriminals to trick you into divulging sensitive information or downloading malware onto
your systems

Process Invoices Accurately and with Speed with VisionERA

‍
VisionERA is a cutting-edge Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) platform that allows you to process
invoices swiftly and accurately. It is ideal for document-heavy businesses that want to automate their
time-consuming manual processes. Organizations using VisionERA can process their documents 20x
faster and help their teams experience 3x productivity.

Authorizing a payment
If you need to verify that your customer has the ability to pay for a
transaction but you do not want to immediately apply a charge to the
customer's payment card you can choose to authorize a transaction in
a distinct step.
Read more about the distinction between authorization, capture, and
purchase transactions on the payment operations page.

What is authorization?
Authorization is an instruction where you request that the customer's
issuing bank ringfences the funds on the customer's payment card so
that your customer cannot spend the funds somewhere else.
It ensures that the funds are available for you to capture and to
transfer to your merchant account when you decide to do so.
Note that authorizing an amount on a customer's payment card does
not in its own right mean that you will be paid the amount you have
authorized. Authorization simply holds the amount on your customer's
card so that you can capture it in the future.
If you do not send a capture instruction within the required time frame
the amount that you have authorized on your customer's payment card
will be automatically released for your customer to spend elsewhere.
The time frame varies depending on the issuing bank.
You can optionally release the fund you authorized on your customer's
card by voiding the authorization. Read more about voiding
authorization here.
We recommend that you issue a capture or void command within five
working days as some banks may release the authorized amount
within five working days.
Note that some payment options do not support the authorize
command -- examples include KNET, mada, MEEZA, and NAPS.
When should I use authorization?
Certain payment use cases require that you authorize an amount on
your customer's payment card before you proceed to send a capture
transaction.
In other words, in contrast to a purchase transaction that triggers an
authorization and capture instruction in sequence, your use case
demands that you first send an authorization command before
proceeding to send a capture instruction.
Separating the authorization and capture step is often sensible where
you are not sure how much your customer's final bill will be, but where
you want to ensure that your customer has funds available once that
final bill is due.
Or, you may want to simply authorize an amount once your customer
has checked out a shopping cart, but prefer to only capture the
purchase amount once delivery is confirmed. That minimizes the
inconvenience for your customer, as you can void the authorization --
see below. In contrast, refunding a captured amount (or purchase) will
imply that your customer waits for a refund.

Go to the full API reference

We've given you an overview of how the authorization step works and
why you would choose the authorize operation instead of the purchase
operation. Developers should review the full API reference for
complete instructions

Payment authorisation with

Apple Pay
For devices having a Secure Enclave, a payment can be made only
after it receives authorisation from the Secure Enclave. On iPhone
or iPad, this involves confirming that the user has authenticated
with Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode. Face
ID or Touch ID, if available, is the default method, but the
passcode can be used at any time. A passcode is automatically
offered after three unsuccessful attempts to match a fingerprint or
two unsuccessful attempts to match a face; after five unsuccessful
attempts, the passcode is required. A passcode is also required
when Face ID or Touch ID isn’t configured or isn’t enabled
for Apple Pay. For a payment to be made on Apple Watch, the
device must be unlocked with passcode and the side button must
be double-clicked.

Using a shared pairing key

Communication between the Secure Enclave and the Secure
Element takes place over a serial interface, with the Secure
Element connected to the NFC controller, which in turn is
connected to the Application Processor. Though not directly
connected, the Secure Enclave and Secure Element can
communicate securely using a shared pairing key that’s
provisioned during the manufacturing process. The encryption and
authentication of the communication are based on AES, with
cryptographic nonces used by both sides to protect against replay
attacks. The pairing key is generated inside the Secure Enclave
from its UID key and the Secure Element unique identifier. The
pairing key is then securely transferred from the Secure Enclave to
a hardware security module (HSM) in the factory, which has the
key material required to then inject the pairing key into the Secure
Element.

Authorising a secure transaction

When the user authorises a transaction, which includes a physical
gesture communicated directly to the Secure Enclave, the Secure
Enclave then sends signed data about the type of authentication
and details about the type of transaction (contactless or within
apps) to the Secure Element, tied to an Authorization Random (AR)
value. The AR value is generated in the Secure Enclave when a
user first provisions a credit card and persists while Apple Pay is
enabled, protected by the Secure Enclave encryption and anti-
rollback mechanism. It’s securely delivered to the Secure Element
by leveraging the pairing key. On receipt of a new AR value, the
Secure Element marks any previously added cards as deleted.
 Using a payment cryptogram for
dynamic security
Payment transactions originating from the payment applets include
a payment cryptogram along with a Device Account Number. This
cryptogram, a single-use code, is computed using a transaction
counter and a key. The transaction counter is incremented for each
new transaction. The key is provisioned in the payment applet
during personalisation and is known by the payment network or the
card issuer, or both. Depending on the payment scheme, other data
may also be used in the calculation, including:

 A Terminal Unpredictable Number, for Near Field Communication

(NFC) transactions
 An Apple Pay server nonce, for transactions within apps
These security codes are provided to the payment network and to
the card issuer, which allows the issuer to verify each transaction.
The length of these security codes may vary based on the type of
transaction.