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Finance agent

Invoice matching

Every supplier invoice matched to its purchase order and receipt. The ones that agree are posted, and only the exceptions reach a person.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
Let’s build your agent How it works
The review screen for Invoice matching: four items, three done, and one ($212 over PO) waiting for the controller, who is asked: Approve a $212 difference on PO 2208?
How it works

Follow one invoice from inbox to posted.

Here’s a typical run, step by step: what automation handles, what the agent does, and the calls that stay with your team.

The workflow for Invoice matching, in 5 steps. It starts with “An invoice arrives” and ends with “A draft bill, PO attached”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
Invoice matchingA typical run
Starts withAn invoice arrivesA vendor emails it to the AP inbox as a PDF, a scan or a phone photo.
The agent: Takes the vendor, invoice number, every line, the tax and the total off the page, whether it came as a tidy PDF or a photo.
Automation: Looks up the vendor and invoice number in accounting. A second copy stops there, and anything new is logged.
~62h/mo

Step 1 of 5Read the invoice

  • The agent

    Takes the vendor, invoice number, every line, the tax and the total off the page, whether it came as a tidy PDF or a photo.

    Every vendor puts the total somewhere different, and some never label it at all.

  • Automation

    Looks up the vendor and invoice number in accounting. A second copy stops there, and anything new is logged.

    Checking accounting for the same vendor and invoice number is a lookup.

Reads
  • AP inbox
Writes
  • Accounting

~62 hours a month back

Automation: Pulls the purchase order the invoice points to and the receipt logged when the goods arrived, so all three sit side by side.
~18h/mo

Step 2 of 5Find the paperwork

  • Automation

    Pulls the purchase order the invoice points to and the receipt logged when the goods arrived, so all three sit side by side.

    When the invoice names its PO, fetching the two records it points to takes no judgment.

Reads
  • Purchase orders
  • Receiving log
Writes
  • Accounting

~18 hours a month back

The agent: Compares each line with the PO and the receipt on price and quantity, even when the vendor names a part its own way.
~55h/mo

Step 3 of 5Match line by line

  • The agent

    Compares each line with the PO and the receipt on price and quantity, even when the vendor names a part its own way.

    The vendor bills “HD bracket, zinc” and your PO says “Mounting bracket 40mm”. A rule sees two different parts.

Reads
  • Purchase orders
  • Receiving log
Writes
  • Accounting

~55 hours a month back

Where teams differSome teams match to the PO alone. Others want the receipt too, or a contract rate.

Automation: Anything over your tolerance goes to the controller, or whoever signs off, with the invoice, PO and receipt on one screen.
IfYour team: Approves the extra $212 on PO 2208, or turns it down and asks the vendor for a corrected invoice.
~16h/mo

Step 4 of 5Settle the difference

  • Automation

    Anything over your tolerance goes to the controller, or whoever signs off, with the invoice, PO and receipt on one screen.

    The tolerance is a set number, so which bills need a person is known before anyone opens one.

  • Your teamIf over the $50 tolerance

    Approves the extra $212 on PO 2208, or turns it down and asks the vendor for a corrected invoice.

    Paying above the PO is new spending. Someone with the authority to approve it should own it.

Reads
  • Purchase orders
Writes
  • Accounting

~16 hours a month back

Where teams differTolerances vary: a flat dollar amount, a percentage, or a different limit per vendor.

Automation: Posts the bill in accounting with the PO and the match attached, ready for whoever runs payments.
~11h/mo

Step 5 of 5Post the bill

  • Automation

    Posts the bill in accounting with the PO and the match attached, ready for whoever runs payments.

    Once the lines agree or the controller has signed, posting is the same step every time.

Reads
  • Accounting
Writes
  • Accounting

~11 hours a month back

Ends withA draft bill, PO attachedPosted in accounting and ready for the next payment run, with the match on the record.
Total~162h/mo

What changes

AP stops keying invoices and ticking lines against POs. The controller only sees the bills that don’t match, with the paperwork already beside each one.

  • 4steps automated
  • 2steps for the agent
  • 1call kept with your team

Pick any step to see what happens there and why it sits in that lane.

What it could be worth

~162 hours a month back

$87,500 a year in time

For a team paying about 1,000 vendor invoices a month, at $45 an hour. We work out yours from your own volumes before you sign.

Let’s build your agent
What we customize with you

One proven agent, plugged into how you work.

Every team does this job a little differently, so we set these five with the people who do it today. We’ve done this in dozens of businesses, so we know where teams usually differ and ask about those first.

The agent

Same for every client
  • Follows the same proven steps
  • A person on every exception
  • Every decision logged
  • Tested on your past work first
  • Never releases a payment

  1. Your systems

    Where the work comes in, and where the result goes.

    For this agentInvoices from your AP inbox, bills into your accounting system.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentA $50 tolerance a line, and the suppliers who never send a PO.

  3. Your team

    Who signs off, and who covers when they’re away.

    For this agentThe controller up to $5,000, the CFO above it.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentSlack for exceptions, email for the weekly summary.

  5. Your output

    What it hands back, in the format you already use.

    For this agentA draft bill with the PO attached, or approved and queued to pay.

Setting up new suppliers, answering supplier payment questions and expense report review are other agents in the catalog. A system with no way to connect is quoted on its own.

What you get

The agent, and everything that keeps it working.

  • The agentRunning on your systems, under your rules.
  • The review screenWhere the exceptions land for your AP team and the controller.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past invoices, run through it and checked against the number.
  • The runbookHow it works, what to check, and what to do if it stops.
  • 30 days of tuningAfter it goes live, through a full month of your real invoices.
The number we agree

Hours a week your team spends matching invoices. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.

How we get there

Live in 3 to 6 weeks. About seven hours of your time.

We do the building. Your side: access, three months of closed invoices, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and three months of closed invoices.

  2. Weeks 1 to 2

    We connect your systems and set it up.

    You, 1 hour. Walk us through your rules.

  3. Weeks 2 to 4

    We test it on your past invoices.

    You, 1 hour. Review what it flagged.

  4. Weeks 3 to 6

    It runs beside your team, then goes live.

    You, 1¼ hours. Work from the review screen.

Then 30 days of tuning, with a short check-in each week, about two hours of yours. At day 30 we show you the number and hand everything over.

After it’s live

It keeps running whether or not we stay.

  • It runs in your accounts

    Your cloud, your systems, and an AI account in your name, billed by the provider at their rates.

  • Changes in the first 30 days are included

    A new rule, a changed limit, someone new signing off. That’s what tuning is for.

  • After that, your call

    Your team edits the rulebook, the care plan covers it, or a bigger change is quoted first.

Invoice matching was part of an agency build with a 35% faster invoice cycle.

Questions

About this agent.

What if our invoices arrive as scans or paper?
It reads PDFs and scanned invoices. Anything it can’t read clearly goes to a person, like any other exception.
What about invoices with no purchase order?
You decide in the rulebook: send them to someone on your team, or keep a list of suppliers that never have one, like rent and utilities.
Can it pay our suppliers?
No. It posts bills to accounting. Releasing a payment stays with your team.
Our process isn’t quite like this. Will it still work?
That’s the usual case. The job looks the same in most businesses, but the details never do. We map how your team does it today, then set the rules, systems and approvals to match. That’s what most of the 3 to 6 weeks are for.
How do we agree the number?
Together, before any work starts. For this agent it’s the hours a week your team spends matching invoices. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.
What does it cost to run once it’s live?
Hosting and AI, paid straight to the providers, not through us. It usually runs 5x to 25x cheaper than doing the same work by hand, and we work out your figure from your real volumes before you sign.

Want this one running in your AP team?

Tell us how your team handles invoices today. We’ll show you this agent on examples like yours, and whether it fits the fixed price.

Let’s build your agentBack to Finance
New to Switchboard Agents? How it works, what’s included, and what it costs.
  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
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Switchboard Agents$12,500 fixed · live in 3 to 6 weeks How it works Let’s build your agent