Running the businessAnalysis
From Receipt to Record: Capture, Check, Review
What automatic document processing does with one supplier invoice: how it is captured, which checks it goes through, and where a person still reviews it. A worked example, not a promise about speed or accuracy.
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Typing invoices into a spreadsheet by hand is slow, and it is where transposed digits and wrong VAT rates come from. Automatic document processing replaces the typing. It does not replace checking. This article follows one invoice through the three steps, so you can see what the software does and what is still yours to decide.
The example below is an illustration. The supplier, the business and the figures are fictional.
The example
Atelier North BV, a small design studio, receives a monthly invoice from its software supplier, Cloudship Software BV: €100.00 excl. VAT, 21% VAT €21.00, total €121.00, dated 1 September, payable within 30 days.
Step 1: Capture
The invoice has to get in. There are three ordinary ways:
- Forward the email. Each PDF or image attached to the email becomes a document.
- Upload it. Drag the PDF in, or photograph a paper receipt; a multi-page scan stays one document.
- Receive it on Peppol. A structured invoice arrives as data, with no reading needed.
If the same invoice arrives twice, say once by email and once on Peppol, it stays one document.
Step 2: Check
For a PDF, the fields are read: supplier, invoice number, date, due date, amounts and VAT. Then each field is checked, separately:
| Check | In the example |
|---|---|
| Do net, VAT and total add up? | €100.00 + €21.00 = €121.00. Passes |
| Does the supplier resolve to a known contact? | Cloudship Software BV, by its enterprise number. Passes |
| Is this a duplicate of a document already held? | No. Passes |
The checks are per field, not per document. An invoice can add up and still have a supplier that does not resolve, and then only that field waits for you, with the reason attached. A document whose checks all pass can confirm itself; one that fails a check does not.
Step 3: Review
This is where a person comes in, and it is deliberate.
- A failed check. Suppose the photo cut off the VAT line. Dokus shows the field it could not read and why, next to the image. You fill it in or correct it.
- The payment. When €121.00 leaves the account on 24 September, Dokus suggests that this bank movement pays the Cloudship invoice and shows why: same amount, same counterparty, after the invoice date. You confirm the match. Nothing is marked paid without that confirmation.
- The treatment. Whether the expense is fully deductible, and where it goes in the books, stays with your accountant. Dokus hands over the document and its source; it does not make that call.
What this changes, and what it does not
The typing goes. The invoice, its checks and its payment end up in one place, and your accountant receives the document with its source instead of a retyped line.
What does not go is judgement. A crumpled receipt, a supplier with two names, a payment that covers three invoices: those still need a person, and a good system shows you exactly which ones and why, rather than guessing.
If you want to try it on your own paperwork, start free and forward your next supplier invoice. You will see which fields were read, which checks passed, and what is left for you.