Invoice automation captures an incoming invoice, extracts the data, matches it to an order or supplier, checks it, routes it for approval and posts it to your bookkeeping. AI helps most with reading unstructured PDFs. Keep a person in charge of exceptions, new suppliers and any change in payment details.
What are the steps?
| Step | What happens | Done by |
|---|---|---|
| Capture | The invoice arrives by mail, portal or network and is collected | Rules |
| Extract | Supplier, date, amounts, VAT and lines are read | AI for PDFs and scans, none if structured |
| Validate | Totals add up, VAT is plausible, it's not a duplicate | Rules |
| Match | It's compared to a purchase order, contract or delivery | Rules, AI for fuzzy matches |
| Code | A ledger account and cost centre are proposed | Rules, AI for new cases |
| Approve | The budget holder gets it, if needed | A person |
| Post | It goes to the bookkeeping system with the source file | A connection |
Note how little of this needs AI. Reading and suggesting do. The checks must be plain rules, because you want the same input to give the same answer every time.
What can you leave running, and what can't you?
Sort your invoices into two streams. Recurring invoices from known suppliers that match on amount can pass with little attention. Everything else goes to a person.
Always send these to a person, with no exceptions:
- A supplier's bank details differ from what you have on file
- A new supplier
- An amount above a limit you set, or far from the usual
- An invoice with no matching order or contract
- A possible duplicate
- An extraction the system itself is unsure about
The first item is the one we feel strongest about. A convincing invoice with changed bank details is a well-known form of fraud, and software that reads carefully will happily read a false one. Confirm changes through a channel you already know, not through the mail that announced them. An invoice is also outside input, so the prompt injection warning applies if AI reads it.
What does e-invoicing change?
It removes the reading step. The European Commission defines eInvoicing as exchanging invoices in a structured, machine-readable format that allows automatic processing. A structured invoice doesn't have to be interpreted, so there's nothing for AI to misread.
On the rules, the Commission says all public authorities must be able to receive and process standard-compliant e-invoices for contracts above the EU procurement threshold. It also says the VAT in the Digital Age package foresees mandatory e-invoicing for cross-border transactions by 2030. National rules can differ and these are changing, so ask your accountant what applies to you.
Our advice: don't build a process that depends on PDFs forever. Make sure it can take structured invoices as well.
Should you buy or build?
Start with your bookkeeping software. If it has an invoice scanning feature, that may be enough. Go further when invoices need matching against data outside your bookkeeping, like a planning or job system, or when your invoices are unusual in layout or content.
Document processing is one of the things our Business Agent is made for, from €7,950. A simple, clearly defined data flow can fit an Automation Sprint, from €2,950. Prices exclude VAT. Check first if it's the right place to begin, using which process to automate first.
How do you know it's working?
Measure before you start: invoices per month, time per invoice and how many need correction. After launch, track how many pass without a touch and what the error rate is on those. Sample the straight-through ones regularly, since those are the invoices nobody looks at. See human in the loop for how to set up those checks.
