Invoice validation and duplicate checks

Every invoice recalculated, not taken as printed.

Reading an invoice gets the figures off the page. Validation asks whether those figures are right and whether the invoice should be paid at all. Tenet checks each invoice against itself and against your records: the arithmetic, the tax, the supplier and their history. The rules are fixed and listed on your Rules page, so the same figures always give the same result.

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Arithmetic and tax

Lines: Quantity × unit price must equal each line total, to within 0.50.
Subtotal and total: The lines must add up to the subtotal, and subtotal plus tax, less discounts, plus freight must equal the total.
Tax against the printed rate: The tax total must match the rate the invoice prints, or the rates on its lines. Mixed rates and tax-inclusive prices are worked out as such.
Tax on each line: Each line’s tax must match its amount × its rate, including tax charged on a line marked 0%.

Duplicates, supplier and fraud signals

Duplicates: Invoice numbers are compared ignoring case, punctuation and leading zeros. The same number from a confirmed supplier is blocking. The same number from an unconfirmed supplier, or the same supplier, amount and date under another number, is a warning.
Changed bank details: Bank details on the invoice are compared with the supplier’s last approved invoice or saved details.
Tax IDs: ABN, NZBN, NZ GST/IRD and UK VAT numbers must pass their checksums and match the one saved for the supplier.
Which supplier?: The supplier is matched on tax ID or exact name. A close name is proposed for a person to confirm, never linked on a guess.
New suppliers: The first invoice from a supplier with no approved invoice in Tenet and no bill in Xero is flagged.
Price creep: Unit prices more than 10% above what the supplier charged on approved invoices in the last 180 days are flagged.

The document itself

Is it an invoice?: Quotes, receipts and other documents that aren’t invoices are held for review.
Required fields: Invoice number, date, currency and total must all be read. Anything missing stays missing: Tenet never fills in a value it couldn’t read.
Possible credit notes: A negative total or negative quantities on a document read as an invoice is flagged.
Ambiguous currency: An invoice that only shows “$” or “kr” is held until a person confirms the currency.
Dates and terms: Dates in the future or over 180 days old are flagged, and the due date must fit printed terms such as “Net 30”.

What a failed check looks like

Illustrative invoices. Each result shows the figures Tenet compared.

Line arithmetic Needs review
Invoice: Line 2 prints 120 × 7.25 with a line total of 880.00.
Tenet: 120 × 7.25 = 870.00, so the line is 10.00 over. The subtotal and total carry the error.
Tax against the printed rate Needs review
Invoice: Subtotal 3,166.80, VAT at 20% printed, VAT charged 643.36.
Tenet: 3,166.80 × 20% = 633.36, so the VAT is 10.00 higher than the printed rate allows.
Duplicate Blocked
Invoice: INV/0042 from Acme Supplies arrives by post. INV-00042 from Acme Supplies was approved last month.
Tenet: The same number once punctuation and leading zeros are ignored, from a confirmed supplier.
Changed bank details Needs review
Invoice: The invoice asks for payment to an account ending 4471.
Tenet: The supplier’s last approved invoice was paid to an account ending 0193.

Capture, validation and payment are different jobs

Capture: Reads the invoice into data: supplier, lines, tax and totals. Tenet does this on every plan, and so do capture apps.
Validation: Tests whether those figures are right and whether the invoice should be paid: arithmetic, tax, duplicates, supplier and bank details.
Payment: Releases the money. Tenet doesn’t pay suppliers; you pay approved bills from Xero or your bank as you do now.

Good to know

Tenet checks the bank details on the invoice against your records. It doesn’t verify an account with the bank, so keep calling suppliers about changes.
A tax ID that passes its checksum is well formed; Tenet doesn’t look it up in a government register.
Duplicates are found among invoices that come through Tenet. Bills keyed straight into Xero or paid on a card are only compared once they are in Tenet too.
Price and quantity checks against a purchase order are part of 3-way matching, on the Match plan and above.