NetSuite PO Matching made simple

3-way matching in NetSuite is an accounts payable process that verifies an invoice against both its corresponding purchase order (PO) and goods receipt before approving payment. This process helps companies verify that the details match across all three documents, ensuring they only pay for goods or services that were ordered, received, and billed correctly, preventing overpayments and accounting errors.

PO matching compares vendor invoices against purchase orders to verify that what’s being billed matches what was ordered. The process helps AP departments validate the accuracy of invoice payments by ensuring header and line item details such as price and quantity match between documents, serving as one of the best defenses against fraud and errors in your NetSuite system.

2-way matching compares just the invoice against the purchase order to verify pricing, quantities, and terms. 3-way matching takes this a step further by also matching the invoice to the shipping receipt or goods received note, confirming that what was ordered matches what was received and what’s being billed, providing an additional layer of verification for your accounts payable team.

In NetSuite, you can link a bill to a purchase order by navigating to Transactions > Payables > Enter Bills, selecting the vendor, and then referencing the PO number. While this can be done manually through the NetSuite UI, automation tools like Routable can simplify this process by automatically linking bill lines with PO lines using OCR and algorithmic matching, saving time and reducing errors.