--- title: "AP exception management: resolve invoice mismatches — Empty Spaces" description: "AI agents that match invoices to POs, receipts and contracts, investigate every discrepancy and prepare the next step, so AP clears exceptions before payment." url: https://emptyspaces.ai/solutions/reduce-ap-exceptions language: en --- Accounts payable # Resolve AP exceptions before they become payment problems. Our AI agents compare invoices, purchase orders, receipts, contracts and payment data, investigate the discrepancies and prepare the next action for review. [Book a working session](https://emptyspaces.ai/contact-us) [See Accounts Payable](https://emptyspaces.ai/product/accounts-payable) An illustration of the AP Agent investigating an Amazon Web Services invoice of $18,420.00 against a purchase order of $16,900.00: the $1,520.00 difference is a data transfer line the PO never covered, which the contract allows and earlier invoices also carried. ## Most AP work isn't the happy path. Entering invoices is the easy part, and most AP tools already do it. The work is resolving everything that doesn't match. An illustration of two paths through accounts payable: a four-step happy path that is already automated, and a seven-step exception path across AP, procurement and the vendor. ## Let our AP Agent investigate the exception. It goes where your team would go — the ERP, the contract, the usage data, earlier invoices — and comes back with a likely cause and a proposed fix. 1. Invoice received 2. Matched against PO, receipt and contract 3. Discrepancy detected 4. Supporting systems searched 5. Likely cause determined 6. Resolution proposed 7. A person reviews it 8. The ERP is updated or the vendor contacted An illustration of the AP Agent investigating invoice INV-4518 across five systems: Business Central, Gmail, Snowflake, BILL and Slack, and concluding the difference is usage-based data transfer the purchase order never covered. ## The exceptions AP actually spends its time on. Six kinds of exception the agent investigates before payment. Open one to see what it checks. - Invoice mismatches — Investigate invoice, PO and goods-receipt discrepancies. What our agent does Compares the invoice line by line with the PO and the receipt, then looks for the reason for each difference in the contract, the usage and the correspondence. INV-4518 · 3 lines · 2 match · data transfer +$1,520.00 not on PO 8823 - Duplicate invoices — Identify likely duplicate invoices or duplicate charges before payment. What our agent does Looks across vendors, amounts, dates and invoice numbers for the near-matches a straight lookup misses: a re-sent PDF, a changed reference, the same charge on a card. INV-77140 and INV-77140A · same vendor · same amount · 3 days apart - Pricing leakage — Find unexpected pricing, fees and contract discrepancies. What our agent does Checks unit prices, fees and surcharges against the contract and the vendor's own history, and flags the ones nobody agreed to. Unit price $212.00 against contracted $195.00 · 400 units · $6,800.00 over - Vendor credits — Identify available or unapplied credits. What our agent does Finds credit notes that were issued but never applied, and credits a vendor owes but hasn't sent, before the next payment goes out. CN-3310 · $2,450.00 · issued 4 Feb · not applied to any open bill - Payment exceptions — Investigate failed, blocked or unusual payments. What our agent does Traces a payment that bounced, stalled or went out twice back through the bank, the ERP and the payment run, and says what to do about it. Payment 40912 · returned R02 · account closed · vendor bank details out of date - Vendor changes — Surface changes such as bank details for additional review. What our agent does Flags a change to a vendor's bank account, address or contact before the next payment uses it, and flags it for a second person to confirm. Harlow Fasteners · bank account changed 18 Mar · flagged before the next payment Worked example ## A surcharge nobody agreed to. A supplier invoice arrives $4,400.00 over its PO. Here is how our AP Agent gets from the mismatch to a reply your AP manager can approve. **20 March.** Meridian Industrial Supply invoices $82,400.00 against purchase order PO-7710 for $78,000.00. 1. Compares the invoice with PO-7710: 400 units at $195.00 on both, plus a line the PO doesn't have. Agent 2. Checks receipt GR-5520: all 400 units arrived on 18 March, on standard freight. Agent 3. Checks the vendor's last six invoices: none carried a handling surcharge. Agent 4. Finds the difference: a $4,400.00 expedited handling surcharge that was never ordered or approved. Agent 5. Gathers the PO, the receipt, the invoice and the invoice history into one record. Agent 6. Drafts a reply asking for a credit note, and proposes paying the agreed $78,000.00 on terms. Agent 7. Sends both to the AP manager for review. AP manager An illustration of the AP Agent's proposed response to a supplier invoice that is $4,400.00 over its purchase order: the invoice, PO and receipt compared, a proposal to pay the agreed $78,000.00 and hold the surcharge, and a drafted reply to the vendor waiting for an AP manager's approval. ## Your team stops searching and starts deciding. The investigation moves to the agent. The judgement calls stay with the people accountable for them. Before - People search - People compare - People follow up - People document With our AP Agent - The agent investigates - AP reviews the exceptions - People make the judgement calls [ The product — Accounts Payable — Supplier invoices compared with the purchase and receipt records, discrepancies investigated, and the next action prepared for your team to approve. Explore Accounts Payable ](https://emptyspaces.ai/product/accounts-payable) Other solutions [Reconcile accounts](https://emptyspaces.ai/solutions/account-reconciliation) [Resolve close exceptions](https://emptyspaces.ai/solutions/close-exceptions) [Prepare accruals](https://emptyspaces.ai/solutions/accruals-and-adjustments) [Manage prepaids](https://emptyspaces.ai/solutions/prepaid-amortization) [Explain performance](https://emptyspaces.ai/solutions/explain-performance) [Management reporting](https://emptyspaces.ai/solutions/management-reporting) [Keep forecasts current](https://emptyspaces.ai/solutions/forecast-updates) [Model business decisions](https://emptyspaces.ai/solutions/scenario-analysis) [Accelerate cash collection](https://emptyspaces.ai/solutions/accelerate-collections) ## Bring us your hardest AP exceptions. Pick the invoices that took your team longest last month. We'll show you how our AP Agent would have worked them. [Book a working session](https://emptyspaces.ai/contact-us)