Purchase invoice processing for accounting agencies

Purpose

Handle the full purchase invoice pipeline without manual data entry.

Each purchase invoice requires reading a document, identifying the vendor, extracting line items, determining the correct VAT treatment, mapping to the right general ledger account, and posting to Merit Aktiva. VAT treatment in particular carries compliance risk.

Data sources

1. Invoices: In any format uploaded in batch or delivered automatically via email.
2. Client company profile: Each client's chart of accounts, VAT status, vendor history, and general ledger mapping conventions, loaded automatically on company selection from Merit Aktiva.
3. Vendor history: Past posting behavior stored by the agent across sessions. Used to propose general ledger accounts and identify likely duplicates.

Key processing steps

1. Gathering invoices

Invoices are uploaded in batch or picked up automatically from a configured email address. The agent identifies each file and queues it for processing. No manual sorting or renaming required.

2. Extraction and validation

The agent extracts all relevant fields from each document: vendor name, invoice number, date, line items, amounts, and VAT fields. It detects the document type (invoice, credit note, proforma) and validates that required fields are present and internally consistent.

3. Vendor matching

Each extracted vendor is matched against the client's known vendor list using name normalization and historical posting records. New vendors are flagged for confirmation. Previously seen vendors are matched automatically and carry their prior GL mapping forward.

4. Duplicate detection

Each invoice is checked against previously processed invoices for the same client. Exact duplicates are flagged and excluded from the review table. Potential duplicates (same vendor, similar amount, close date) are surfaced for your review.

5. VAT treatment determination

The agent analyzes each invoice’s vendor country, VAT registration status, goods or service type, and delivery location, and applies the correct VAT treatment. KMD section and tax code are assigned automatically. Every determination includes a written explanation of the agent’s thought and decision process.

6. General ledger account mapping

The agent proposes a GL account for each line item based on the client's chart of accounts and past posting behavior for that vendor. Where no prior behavior exists, it selects the closest match and flags it for confirmation.

7. Edge case detection

The agent flags invoices that fall outside standard processing, like potential fixed assets, fringe benefit invoices, related-party transactions, and multi-period expenses and asks you to confirm.

8. Review and post

The agent produces a full structured review table. You can review each proposed booking decision, make corrections, if necessary, and approve. Approved entries are posted directly to Merit Aktiva in bulk.

Outputs

1. Structured review table with extracted data and proposed booking for every invoice
2. Posted entries in Merit Aktiva with GL accounts, VAT codes, and KMD sections assigned
3. Audit trail written to each invoice's comment field in Merit Aktiva, including the VAT determination reasoning and GL mapping logic
4. Exception log covering duplicates, edge cases, missing vendor matches, and unresolved GL mappings
5. Running vendor memory updated with any new booking decisions made during review