Two-Way Voucher Matching in Cetec ERP: A Practical Option for AP Flexibility
In manufacturing, it’s not uncommon to get invoiced before the product actually arrives. Especially with long lead-time items or overseas shipments, vendors often send invoices as soon as they ship, leaving Accounts Payable with a familiar dilemma: the invoice is here, but the goods are not.
For teams trying to follow standard accounting controls, this creates a bottleneck. Best practice is to wait for the goods to arrive and perform a three-way match (PO, Receipt, Invoice) before releasing payment. But in reality, that’s not always practical. Invoices pile up and AP gets stuck waiting to process them.
A New Option in Cetec ERP 4.22: Two-Way Voucher Matching
As of version 4.22, Cetec ERP introduced a new option: you can now approve and process invoices based on a two-way match, between just the PO and the Invoice, without waiting on the Receipt.
This provides flexibility for AP teams trying to keep payments moving. If you know the goods are in transit or trust the vendor’s documentation, you can match and voucher the invoice based on PO lines alone.
This does come with a risk. You may end up receiving items at a different cost than the PO and voucher matched to, and with a hanging “accrued purchases” amount to reconcile (note: our AP Validation account audit tool has been enhanced to flag these for you if that happens!)
These gaps require reconciliation, and that’s why three-way matching is still recommended when possible. But in scenarios where pragmatism must weigh out, this new two-way match process can help.
Learn more about three-way match behavior in Cetec ERP here:
Vouchers Require Explicit Approval If No Three-Way Match
This means that even when you bypass the receipt step, rather than losing control, you’re simply choosing to manage the risk downstream, with the reporting tools to help you do it.
Final Thoughts
Cetec ERP’s two-way voucher matching option isn’t a replacement for the controls of a three-way match. But it gives accounting teams a little tool to process AP pragmatically, especially in high-trust or long-lead-time procurement scenarios.
For manufacturers juggling dozens of POs, invoices, and inbound receipts each day, this kind of flexibility, backed by reporting and audit safeguards, can make all the difference between stalled payments and smooth cash flow.