Three-way match
Three-way match is the discipline of verifying that the purchase order, the goods received, and the vendor bill all agree before paying.
The three documents
| Document | Says |
|---|---|
| Purchase order | What you agreed to buy at what price |
| Receipt | What physically arrived |
| Vendor bill | What the vendor is charging |
A three-way match confirms:
- Quantity billed ≤ quantity received (no paying for goods not in hand)
- Unit price billed = unit price ordered (no unauthorised price increases)
- Total billed = total received × unit ordered
How PLANA enforces it
When you create a bill from a confirmed PO (PO → Create Bill):
- PLANA pre-fills the bill from the PO lines
- The pre-fill quantity is what was received, not what was ordered
- The price defaults to the PO price
You manually adjust if the vendor's bill differs. PLANA highlights any discrepancy:
| Discrepancy | Flag |
|---|---|
| Bill quantity ≠ PO quantity | Yellow warning |
| Bill price ≠ PO price | Yellow warning |
| Bill amount > received amount | Red warning (this is the danger one) |
Confirm the bill only after reconciling the discrepancies — adjust PLANA's values to match the bill, OR push back on the vendor for a corrected bill.
When the bill comes before the receipt
Common for international vendors who invoice on dispatch:
- The bill arrives in the post first
- Create the bill in PLANA, with a note "awaiting receipt"
- Goods arrive later
- Receive in Inventory; PLANA links to the open bill
- Validate the receipt → three-way match runs at this point
If receipt < bill quantity, the bill is flagged. Resolve by either:
- Returning the unreceived portion to the vendor (negative receipt)
- Issuing a partial credit note from the vendor
- Adjusting the bill to match the actual receipt
Configuring tolerance
For small unit-price discrepancies (e.g. 0.5% rounding), you can set tolerance so PLANA accepts close-enough matches without flagging:
Settings → Inventory → Three-way match → Price tolerance: 1%.
Any discrepancy within the tolerance passes silently. Above it triggers the flag.
Disabling three-way match
If your business doesn't need it (very simple purchase flows), disable it in Settings → Inventory → Three-way match: off. Bills then post without checking against receipts. Not recommended — three-way match catches genuine errors.