Suppliers make mistakes. Deliveries come short, prices change between quote and invoice, and the same bill sometimes arrives twice. The three-way match is a simple control that catches these before money leaves your account.
The three documents
- The purchase order (PO): what you agreed to buy, how many and at what price.
- The goods receipt: what actually arrived, counted by your stores team.
- The supplier invoice: what the supplier is asking you to pay.
A three-way match lines the three up, item by item. Only when quantities and prices agree is the invoice approved for payment.
An example
You order two laptops at 2,450,000 each. Two arrive and are received into stock. The supplier then bills you for three.
| Quantity | Unit price (UGX) | |
|---|---|---|
| Ordered (PO) | 2 | 2,450,000 |
| Received (goods receipt) | 2 | n/a |
| Billed (supplier invoice) | 3 | 2,450,000 |
| Result | Exception: billed exceeds received |
The match fails, so the invoice is held. You ask the supplier for a corrected bill for two laptops, run the match again, and it passes. Without the check, you would have paid for a laptop that never arrived.
Why it is worth doing
- You pay only for goods that arrived, at the price you agreed.
- Duplicate and inflated invoices are caught before payment.
- Stores, buyers and accounts all work from the same records.
- Auditors can follow every payment back to an order and a delivery.
Making it work in practice
- Raise a purchase order for every purchase above an agreed amount.
- Receive goods against the PO as soon as they arrive, including partial deliveries.
- Enter the supplier invoice against the same PO.
- Match, resolve any exception with the supplier, then approve for payment.
How Smart Suite helps
In Smart Suite Procurement, stock is added only when goods are received, never when you place the order. On a supplier invoice, Run 3-way match compares ordered, received and billed quantities and the unit price against the PO for every line. The supplier's bill is posted to Finance only after the match passes.