Invoice processing

Automated invoice processing, from the inbox to approved.

Unibuild reads supplier invoices automatically as they arrive at your firm’s own invoice address, down to the line items. Each one is checked for duplicates, matched to its purchase order and delivery, coded to the job and sent to the right approver.

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A site manager in a hard hat and hi-vis working at a laptop showing a purchase orders screen, with a building site behind

One morning

Seven supplier invoices, and nobody typed a line.

An illustrative Monday morning at a building services firm: the firm, suppliers and invoices are examples. The checks are the ones Unibuild runs.

One morning’s supplier invoices in Unibuild (illustrative)
Invoice	Arrived	Unibuild
Merchant, fourteen lines	Email	Matched three ways, sent for approval
Plant hire, monthly	Email	Matched to the hire, approved under your rules
Electrical wholesaler	Email	Two lines above the order price, held
The merchant invoice again	Post, scanned	Duplicate, held
Mechanical subcontractor	Subcontractor portal	Logged against the subcontract order
Office utilities	Email	No order, sent to the office manager to code
Fixings supplier	Email	Bank details differ from the record, flagged

Arrived: Five invoices reached the firm’s invoice address, one came through the subcontractor portal, and one arrived by post and was scanned in.
Read: Unibuild’s AI read each one, from the supplier and totals down to every line.
Checked: The posted copy was caught as a duplicate, and the changed bank account was flagged before anybody could pay it.
Matched: Invoices with an order were matched to it, and to the delivery where there was one. The wholesaler’s two dearer lines were held for the buyer.
Routed: Each invoice went to its approver, coded to its job from the order. The utilities bill, with no order, went to the office manager to code.

The rule Read, checked, matched, then approved Nobody types; a named person approves the run

Problems we solve

Six invoice processing problems. All six solved.

From the invoice priced above its order to the one nobody knew was missing.

Charged more than the order said.

Solved Every line is matched to the order and the delivery before approval.

A duplicate invoice, and a supplier with new bank details.

Solved Duplicates are held and bank detail changes flagged on arrival.

Every invoice typed in from a PDF.

Solved Unibuild’s AI reads each invoice down to the line items.

Coded to whichever job looked most likely.

Solved The invoice takes its job and nominal code from the order it matches.

The invoice sat in a site manager’s inbox.

Solved One invoice address for every supplier, logged as it arrives.

A regular supplier has not invoiced this month.

Solved Unibuild tells you which invoices it has not seen yet.

6/6Solved in one module

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What it does

Invoice processing software that checks before anybody approves.

Your own
invoice address

Suppliers send invoices to an email address unique to your firm, and each one is logged as it arrives, with nothing to save or upload.

One address per firm
Purchase, hire and subcontract
Portal uploads too
Paper scanned or photographed

Every invoice in one placeLive

AI invoice
reading

Unibuild’s AI reads each invoice in full: supplier, VAT number, invoice number, dates, order reference, net, VAT, total and every line.

Down to the line items
Totals and VAT checked
Any currency
Credit notes too

Read, not typedLive

Invoice
matching

Each invoice is matched to its purchase order and, where goods were delivered, to the goods received note: two-way or three-way.

Price against the order
Quantity against the delivery
Tolerances you set
Balance left on the order

Paid for what arrivedLive

Duplicate and
fraud checks

Every invoice is checked against the invoices already held and the supplier’s record before it goes anywhere.

Duplicates held
Bank details compared
Unknown suppliers flagged
Every check on record

Stopped before paymentLive

Coding to
the job

A matched invoice takes its job, cost code and nominal code from the order. Approvers code the rest, with the usual coding suggested.

Job and cost code
Nominal code and VAT
Approver coding
Custom invoice details

The right job, first timeLive

Approval and
exceptions

Clean invoices go straight to approval, or are approved under the rules you set. Exceptions go to a named person with the reason shown.

Straight through when clean
Exceptions explained
Lines to different approvers
Held until goods arrive

Approval workflowsLive

Invoice
document store

Every invoice PDF is kept with its order, delivery, approvals and payment, searchable, and synced to your own cloud drive.

Unlimited storage
Kept for seven years
Search any invoice
OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox

Document managementLive

Missing
invoices

Ask Unibuild which regular suppliers have not invoiced this month. Goods received but not invoiced are listed for month-end accruals.

Missing invoices named
Received, not invoiced
Chased by email
Month end without guesses

Nothing left out of the monthLive

Export to
your accounts

Approved invoices leave Unibuild with their supplier, coding, matching, PDF and approvals attached, and join the next payment run by due date.

QuickBooks, Xero, Sage 50
Other systems on request
Dext inbox
Exported on approval

IntegrationsLive

The process

How automated invoice processing works.

Six stages from the email arriving to the approved invoice in your accounts. Free to use in your own finance procedures.

Flow diagram of automated invoice processing in six stages: receive it once, read every line, check it is genuine, match it to the order, send it to its approver and export it ready to pay — How automated invoice processing works: six stages from the invoice arriving to the approved invoice in the accounts.Free to use, copy, change and share, with no conditions. Download the PNG

Three ways to do it

Supplier invoice processing, compared.

Supplier invoice processing: by hand, with a standalone capture tool, and in Unibuild
The question	By hand	A standalone capture tool	Unibuild
Getting the invoice in	Forwarded between inboxes	An email address	Your own address, or the portal
The data	Typed in	Read automatically	Read automatically, to the line items
Matching	By eye, if at all	To the order, where one exists	To the order and the delivery
The job it belongs to	Guessed	Coded by finance	Taken from the order on the job
Approval	An email chain	A separate step	Routed by your rules, from the phone
Volume	Limited by staff time	A monthly invoice quota	No quota
Storage	A shared drive	A storage allowance	Unlimited and searchable

Built around your firm

Your suppliers, your codes,
your tolerances.

Invoice processing is set up around the way your accounts office already works. Any change you ask for is built for you, inside the monthly fee. That is how bespoke software works here.

Your tolerances: How far a price or quantity may differ before an invoice is held, set by supplier or for the whole firm.
Your coding: Jobs, cost codes, nominal codes, departments and any custom invoice details your accounts need.
Your orders: Invoices match the orders raised in purchase orders, and the deliveries recorded against them.
Your subcontractors: Subcontract invoices arrive on the subcontractor portal and sit against the subcontract order.
Your site team: Deliveries are recorded in your own branded staff app, published on the App Store and Google Play under your company’s name and icon.
Your whole process: Invoice processing is one stage of accounts payable automation, through to the payment run.

A site manager in a hard hat at a desk with a monitor showing charts and figures, scaffolding behind

Questions

Asked by accounts teams
and finance managers.

What is automated invoice processing?

Software that receives supplier invoices, reads them, checks them and matches them to the order and the delivery. It then routes them for approval, so the accounts team reviews invoices instead of typing them.

How does AI invoice processing work in Unibuild?

Suppliers email invoices to your firm’s own invoice address. Unibuild’s AI reads each one, including the line items, checks it for duplicates and changed bank details, matches it to the order and delivery, and sends it to its approver. Nothing is paid until a named person approves the payment run.

Is it the same as invoice OCR or invoice scanning?

It goes further. Invoice OCR turns a scanned page into text. Unibuild reads what the invoice means, the supplier, totals, VAT and lines, then checks and matches it against your own orders and deliveries.

What happens when an invoice does not match the order?

It is held and flagged to a named person, with the order price, the delivered quantity and the invoiced figure side by side. They accept it, query it with the supplier or approve part of it.

Does it check that the invoice adds up?

Yes. Net plus VAT is checked against the total, and the supplier’s VAT number, the order reference and any missing details are checked before the invoice goes for approval.

What if the goods have not been recorded as received?

The invoice is held until they are. The person who took the delivery gets repeated reminders, and an alert when they next sign in, so the invoice is not left waiting.

Can invoices with no purchase order be processed?

Yes. Utilities, subscriptions and other non-order invoices are read in the same way and routed by supplier or cost code to the person who approves and codes them.

Can different lines on one invoice go to different approvers?

Yes. Lines for different jobs or departments can go to each one’s own approver, and the invoice is complete when every line is approved.

What about paper invoices?

Scan them, or photograph them in the staff app, and they are read and checked like any emailed invoice. A posted copy of an invoice already held is caught as a duplicate.

Can it read invoices in other currencies and languages?

Yes. Invoices are read in any currency and in most European languages, and each company on the system keeps its own base currency. Overseas suppliers are paid in their own currency in the payment run.

How are invoice documents stored?

Each PDF is kept with its order, delivery, approvals and payment, and can be searched. Storage is unlimited, and every file is synced to your own OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox.

Does it send invoices to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage?

Yes. Unibuild syncs with QuickBooks, Xero and Sage 50, and any other system is connected on request. Approved supplier paperwork can also be sent to your Dext inbox. Integrations.

What is the best automated invoice processing software for UK contractors?

One that matches the invoice to the job as well as the order. Unibuild reads supplier invoices to the line items, checks for duplicates and bank detail changes, matches to the order and delivery, and codes to the job. Unibuild is bespoke business software for UK trades and specialist contractors, in daily production since 2016.

Is there a limit on how many invoices are processed?

No. There is no monthly invoice quota and no charge per user. One monthly figure covers the platform. The cost of AI is bespoke: everyday AI is included, and heavier AI work is paid only as used, at the AI provider’s own cost.

By trade