What are the 15 steps (Min) an accountant must do before you can approve an invoice for payment?

1. Material Delivery note

2. Purchaser order or Agreement in Any

3. Material delivery time (Weather its delivered on time)

4. Check with site staff for the Material Approval from client

5. Check the site approval (SMR)

6. Check the payment terms

7. Invoice from the customer

8. Check Invoice rates against the purchase order or Agreement

9. Customer or company details

10. Customer Account details

11. Customer Text card details

12. Check the quantity

1) need to veryfy the Purchase order along with the invoice

2) check the contracts terms 

3) check the customer accounts statement 

4) check the delivery terms 

5) check the order details

6) check the delivered  quantity

7)  Check the delivery terms

8) Check the invoice date

9) check the 

customer name

customer information

product ordered

quantity ordered

price from price list

types of products

delivery date  from DC

DC number

order date

sales person name

nvoices that are legitimate and accurate. This means that before a vendor's invoice is entered into the accounting records and scheduled for payment, the invoice must reflect:

• what the company had ordered
• what the company has received
• the proper unit costs, calculations, totals, terms, etc.

To safeguard a company's cash and other assets, the accounts payable process should have internal controls. A few reasons for internal controls are to:

• prevent paying a fraudulent invoice
• prevent paying an inaccurate invoice
• prevent paying a vendor invoice twice
• be certain that all vendor invoices are accounted for

Periodically companies should seek professional assistance to improve its internal controls.

The accounts payable process must also be efficient and accurate in order for the company's financial statements to be accurate and complete. Because of double-entry accounting an omission of a vendor invoice will actually cause two accounts to report incorrect amounts. For example, if a repair expense is not recorded in a timely manner:

1. the liability will be omitted from the balance sheet, and
2. the repair expense will be omitted from the income statement.

If the vendor invoice for a repair is recorded twice, there will be two problems as well:

1. the liabilities will be overstated, and
2. repairs expense will be overstated.

In other words, without the accounts payable process being up-to-date and well run, the company's management and other users of the financial statements will be receiving inaccurate feedback on the company's performance and financial position.

A poorly run accounts payable process can also mean missing a discount for paying some bills early. If vendor invoices are not paid when they become due, supplier relationships could be strained. This may lead to some vendors demanding cash on delivery. If that were to occur it could have extreme consequences for a cash-strapped company.

Just as delays in paying bills can cause problems, so could paying bills too soon. If vendor invoices are paid earlier than necessary, there may not be cash available to pay some other bills by their due dates.

Purchase order

A purchase order or PO is prepared by a company to communicate and document precisely what the company is ordering from a vendor. The paper version of a purchase order is a multi-copy form with copies distributed to several people. The people or departments receiving a copy of the PO include:

• the person requesting that a PO be issued for the goods or services
• the accounts payable department
• the receiving department
• the vendor
• the person preparing the purchase order

The purchase order will indicate a PO number, date prepared, company name, vendor name, name and phone number of a contact person, a description of the items being purchased, the quantity, unit prices, shipping method, date needed, and other pertinent information.

One copy of the purchase order will be used in the three-way match, which we will discuss later.

Receiving report

A receiving report is a company's documentation of the goods it has received. The receiving report may be a paper form or it may be a computer entry. The quantity and description of the goods shown on the receiving report should be compared to the information on the company's purchase order.

After the receiving report and purchase order information are reconciled, they need to be compared to the vendor invoice. Hence, the receiving report is the second of the three documents in the three-way match (which will be discussed shortly).

Vendor Invoice

The supplier or vendor will send an invoice to the company that had received the goods and/or services on credit. When the invoice or bill is received, the customer will refer to it as a vendor invoice. Each vendor invoice is routed to accounts payable for processing. After the invoice is verified and approved, the amount will be credited to the company's Accounts Payable account and will also be debited to another account (often as an expense or asset).

A common technique for verifying a vendor invoice is the three-way match.

Three-way match

The accounts payable process often uses a technique known as the three-way match to assure that only valid and accurate vendor invoices are recorded and paid. The three-way match involves the following: