Every week, a small business pays its suppliers in one run. Before the money goes out, someone has to check each invoice against what was ordered and what actually arrived, and catch the ones that should not be paid yet. Here, Leavenhill Bakery, the company we use to show ALK at work, checks the week’s 20 supplier invoices before Friday’s payment run.
Step 1 of 9
Friday's run, on one screen
Every supplier invoice falls due by Friday, October 2. Asked in plain words what is owed, ALK answers with a chart: $24,544.10 across 10 suppliers.
Step 2 of 9
20 invoices, read and sorted
Each invoice is checked against its purchase order and receiving slip. 15 are ready to pay, 2 need a question to the supplier and 3 are on hold.
Step 3 of 9
The reason, with the receipt
Birchmoor Dairy billed butter at $4.85 a pound. The purchase order says $4.35. The gap is written out, and the invoice waits for a $72.00 credit note.
Step 4 of 9
See the page it came from
The purchase order opens right next to what ALK read, so anyone on the team can confirm the $4.35 in seconds.
Step 5 of 9
Held, not paid
Oxbow Bend sent new bank details, Stonecrest Mills sent an invoice that was already paid on September 18, and a walk-in cooler repair came with no purchase order. $6,132.40 waits until someone checks.
Step 6 of 9
The decision: the owner signs off
Nothing is paid until a person approves it. The owner approved all 15 clear invoices for Friday’s run.
Step 7 of 9
What it adds up to
$15,646.30 goes out on Friday. $6,132.40 is on hold and $2,765.40 waits on supplier credit notes.
Step 8 of 9
Name your limit
One instruction: warn me when more than $5,000 is on hold before Friday.
Step 9 of 9
ALK tells you first
$6,132.40 is on hold, over the $5,000 line, with the three holds named, so they can be cleared before the run.
What ALK checks on every invoice
- That it quotes a purchase order
- Unit prices against the price agreed on the purchase order
- Quantities billed against what the receiving slip shows arrived
- Invoice numbers that are already on the paid list
- Remit-to bank details against the supplier file
- Where each invoice goes next: ready to pay, ask the supplier, or hold
Try it on your own invoices
Send one real supplier invoice with its purchase order, or a redacted one, and see what ALK finds.
