Supplier invoices arrive all week, and they should not all be paid the same way. A large invoice needs the controller's sign-off, and an invoice with no purchase order number needs someone to find out who ordered it before any money goes out. Here, Sysmere Foodservice, Inc., the Indianapolis foodservice distributor and the company we use to show ALK at work, routes this week's 12 supplier invoices from its food and packaging suppliers.
Step 1 of 7
Describe it once
Sysmere's accounts payable team described its routing rules in plain words, and ALK drew the workflow: read each invoice, check that it carries a PO number, then route it by amount.
Step 2 of 7
Draw the line
One condition does the routing: if the invoice amount is greater than $5,000, the invoice goes to the controller. Everything at or under the line goes to Ready to Pay.
Step 3 of 7
12 invoices, read and sorted
ALK read all 12 supplier invoices in about three minutes. 2 had no PO number, 4 were over $5,000 and went to the controller, and 6 were ready to pay, including a $4,989.90 packaging invoice that stayed just under the line.
Step 4 of 7
Over the line, in one list
The four invoices over $5,000 wait together: Harmon Ridge Beef Packers at $12,480.00, Hollis Creek Poultry at $8,865.70, Prairie Gold Dairy at $6,712.35 and Greenfield Paper & Film at $5,209.00. That is $33,267.05 held for sign-off.
Step 5 of 7
Every flag explains itself
Ohio River Bakery Supply's $920.45 invoice was a phone order with no PO number anywhere on it. ALK quotes the line it read and sends the invoice to PO Exceptions instead of the payment run.
Step 6 of 7
See the page it came from
Harmon Ridge's invoice opens right next to what ALK read from it: $12,480.00 total due against PO-SYS-26-04427, due October 8.
Step 7 of 7
The decision: the controller signs off
Nothing over $5,000 is paid until the controller approves it. Here the controller approves Harmon Ridge with a short note, and the other three wait for their own decision.
What ALK checks in each supplier invoice
- Vendor, invoice number, PO number, total due and due date
- Whether a PO number is printed anywhere on the invoice
- Whether the total due is over $5,000
- Where each invoice goes next: controller approval, PO exceptions or ready to pay
- The controller's approve or reject decision, with a comment
Try it on your own supplier invoices
Send one real supplier invoice, or a redacted one, and see what ALK finds.