All 21 Purchase Orders & 3-Way Matching questions
More in Purchase Orders & 3-Way Matching
What is a requisition and how does it relate to a PO? What information does a purchase order typically contain? What is a contract or catalog PO versus a spot PO? What is matching tolerance and why is it used? How are partial deliveries and partial invoices matched against a PO? What is a blanket (standing) purchase order? What is the accounting flow across PO, goods receipt, and invoice? What does it mean to 'short pay' or 'block' an invoice, and when is each used? What is a PO commitment and how does it aid budgeting? How are freight, duty, and miscellaneous charges handled in matching?
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Accounts Payable & Receivable › Purchase Orders & 3-Way Matching

What are common causes of a three-way match failure?

Intermediate

Answer

Typical causes: price on the invoice differs from the PO; invoiced quantity exceeds the received quantity; goods received but no GRN posted; wrong PO referenced; unit-of-measure mismatch; freight or extra charges not on the PO; or partial deliveries. Each routes to the relevant party—buyer for price, warehouse for receipt—to resolve.
Real-world example An invoice for 100 units fails matching because only 90 were received; the buyer confirms the rest are backordered and the invoice is short-paid to 90.

Common follow-ups: Who fixes a price mismatch vs a quantity mismatch? | How are partial deliveries handled?

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All 21 Purchase Orders & 3-Way Matching questions