Field notes
Three-way matching gaps that quietly inflate cash leakage
Three-way matching works cleanly when purchase orders, goods receipts, and invoices describe the same quantity at the same price. Growing firms break that neat triangle with rush buys, partial deliveries, and service lines that never receive a warehouse receipt.
Cash leakage appears when the payable system allows payment on a two-way match while the original policy still claims three-way control. The policy binder looks strict; the payment run tells a softer story.
Patterns we test first
- Invoices paid above received quantity without a documented change order
- Price variances absorbed into a miscellaneous code
- Buyer overrides above threshold without a second signature
An invoice matching audit does not rewrite your ERP overnight. It shows where the stated rule and the living practice have drifted, so your controller can decide which exceptions are genuine plant emergencies and which are habits.