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Invoice Decisioning Agent

Automatically validates, risk-scores, and routes non-PO invoices for compliance and efficiency.

About the Agent

Accounts payable teams frequently struggle with high manual workloads, delays, and compliance risks when processing non-PO invoices. Without robust automation, organizations face operational bottlenecks, increased error rates, and costly oversight in detecting fraudulent or non-compliant expenses.

The Invoice Decisioning Agent tackles these pain points by unifying invoice classification, contract and policy compliance validation, risk scoring, and approval routing into a single automated workflow. Leveraging data from invoice records, contract documents, historical spend data, policy rules, benchmarking data, supplier master files, and even unstructured inputs like invoice attachments and approver comments, this agent streamlines the end-to-end process for every non-PO invoice.

With the Invoice Decisioning Agent, organizations achieve substantial process productivity and cost savings. It ensures each invoice is correctly categorized, validated against contracts and policies, and dynamically risk-assessed, allowing only legitimate expenses to move forward. Smart, rule-based approval routing eliminates manual review bottlenecks, minimizes the risk of unauthorized payments, and frees AP staff to focus on more strategic finance priorities.

Accuracy
TBD

Speed
TBD

Input Data Set

Sample of data set required for Invoice Decisioning Agent:

Quantum Dynamics LLP - Legal & Advisory Services
1500 Chancellor Avenue, Suite 400
New York, NY 10012


INVOICE


Bill To:
InnovateCorp Inc.
Accounts Payable Department
55 Tech Plaza
San Jose, CA 95134


Invoice Number: QD-INV-2023-852
Invoice Date: November 5, 2023
Due Date: December 5, 2023








Description
Quantity
Rate
Amount






Monthly Legal Services Retainer - October 2023
1
$10,000.00
$10,000.00




Additional Consulting Hours (Project Fusion)
15 hrs
$350.00
$5,250.00








SUBTOTAL: $15,250.00
TAX (8.25%): $0.00 (Services not taxable)
TOTAL DUE: $15,250.00


Notes:
Additional hours for Project Fusion market readiness assessment were pre-approved via email by Sarah Jenkins, Head of Product, on October 15, 2023. Please remit payment via ACH.

Deliverable Example

Sample output delivered by the Invoice Decisioning Agent:

Non-PO Invoice Analysis Report


Invoice ID: QD-INV-2023-852
Supplier: Quantum Dynamics LLP
Total Amount: $15,250.00
Process Date: November 6, 2023




1. Executive Summary


This non-PO invoice from Quantum Dynamics LLP has been processed and assigned a Medium Risk score. The invoice includes a standard monthly retainer and a significant variable charge for additional consulting hours. While the supplier is verified and the retainer is correct per the active contract, the variable expense exceeds policy thresholds for direct processing and requires explicit manager verification. A multi-step approval workflow has been initiated.






Finding
Status
Details






Expense Classification
Success
Professional Services > Legal Consulting




Supplier Validation
Success
Verified in Supplier Master (VID: 88-123456)




Contract Compliance
Partial Match
Retainer matches MSA; variable hours are out of scope.




Policy Compliance
Action Required
Exceeds single-approver limit of $5,000.




Risk Score
Medium (65/100)
Deviation from historical spend baseline.




Suggested Approval Route
Generated
2-Step Approval: S. Jenkins -> V. Chen








2. Detailed Analysis


2.1. Expense Classification


Based on the supplier profile and line item descriptions ("Legal Services Retainer", "Consulting Hours"), the invoice has been automatically classified.


    

  • GL Code Suggested: 7210 - Legal Professional Fees
    • 

  • Cost Center Suggested: PROD-450 - Project Fusion (derived from invoice notes)
    • 



2.2. Compliance Validation


    

  • 

    Contract Compliance:
    

      

    • Contract ID: MSA-QD-2022
      • 

    • Retainer Fee: The charged amount of $10,000.00 matches the contracted monthly fee.
      • 

    • Variable Hours: The contract specifies that additional hours must be authorized via a formal Statement of Work (SOW). The invoice note mentions email approval, which is a deviation from the MSA terms.
      • 

    

    • 

  • 

    Internal Policy Compliance:
    

      

    • Policy ID: CP-FIN-007 (Non-PO Expense Approval)
      • 

    • Finding: The policy states that any single non-PO invoice with variable charges exceeding $5,000 requires approval from both the business unit head and the department VP. The charge of $5,250.00 triggers this clause.
      • 

    

    • 



2.3. Risk Assessment


    

  • Risk Score: 65/100 (Medium)
    • 

  • Key Risk Factors:
      

    • Spend Anomaly: Invoice total is 52.5% higher than the 6-month average spend for this supplier ($10,000/month).
      • 

    • Non-Standard Approval: Relies on an unstructured email approval reference rather than a formal SOW as required by the contract.
      • 

    • High Value: The total amount is in the upper quartile for non-PO invoices.
      • 

    

    • 





3. Recommended Action: Smart Approval Routing


The following approval workflow has been initiated based on the risk assessment and policy requirements:


    

  1. 

    Level 1 Approval (Business Owner):
    

      

    • Approver: Sarah Jenkins (Head of Product)
      • 

    • Reason: Named in the invoice as the business approver for the variable hours. The system will prompt her to confirm her email approval.
      • 

    

    2. 

  2. 

    Level 2 Approval (VP Approval):
    

      

    • Approver: Victor Chen (VP, Product Development)
      • 

    • Reason: Required by policy CP-FIN-007 for variable expenses over $5,000 within his department.
      • 

    

    3. 



Status: Pending Level 1 Approval from Sarah Jenkins.

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