## Catch Cost Discrepancies

# Safeguard Margins And Improve Cost Controls

Invoice processing that looks for ways to prevent revenue loss and protect your bottom line

## Boost margins by catching errors early

### Quickly spot invoice discrepancies

Ottimate’s AI compares invoices line by line against POs, cost files, or contracts. Variances are flagged instantly, allowing finance teams to prevent overpayments, capture discounts, and ensure accurate vendor billing before exporting to the ERP. Finance teams using Ottimate request an average of $673,714 in credits annually.

## AI that processes invoices 70% faster

### Scaling AP with AI

Heritage Grocers Group processes 75,000 invoices each month across 115 stores up to 70% faster with AI automation. By scanning invoices at the store level, the team cuts delays, prevents errors, and gains accuracy, helping a lean AP team keep pace with rapid growth.

## Catching invoice discrepancies made simple

### A Guide to AP Automation for Grocery

This guide to AP automation for grocery shows how efficiency and cost savings go hand in hand. Transform back-office chaos into a seamless process, catch discrepancies with ease, and give your team more time to focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience.

## Easily find price discrepancies on your invoices

### Cost File Validation

Ottimate reviews invoices against your SMS cost file to catch mismatches before export. Cost File Validation saves companies $103,398 per year in potential labor and gets better over time, suggesting accurate order quantities and prices to maximize profitability.

## Ottimate streamlines your DSD receipt workflows

### Receiver Validation

Ottimate validates invoices against actual receipts, confirming quantity, price, and item accuracy. 26% of invoices matched to a receiver have at least one discrepancy — price mismatches account for 76%. Ottimate flags these errors before you pay, ensuring payments only cover what was delivered.

## Frequently Asked Questions

## How does Ottimate identify variances?

Ottimate compares and validates invoice line item data against a third-party pricebook, cost file, or catalog, or against your purchase order. You can ensure that every line item on an invoice is accurately matched before it is processed.

## How does this help you?

This validation helps detect discrepancies in pricing, pack sizes, and vendor item mappings, preventing costly errors in procurement, inventory management, and accounting workflows.

## What are the most common types of invoice discrepancies?

The most common invoice discrepancies include price mismatches between quoted and billed amounts, quantity errors where the amount invoiced doesn’t match what was received, incorrect unit of measure or pack size, duplicate invoices, and unauthorized charges for items not ordered. Catching these before payment prevents overpayment and protects margins.

## How much money do invoice discrepancies cost businesses?

The cost varies by volume and industry, but businesses that process thousands of invoices monthly can lose significant amounts to undetected errors. Ottimate customers save an average of $250,000 per year by identifying item cost discrepancies before payment is made.

## What is the difference between 2-way and 3-way matching?

2-way matching compares an invoice to a purchase order to confirm that the amount billed matches the amount ordered. 3-way matching adds a third layer by also comparing the receipt, confirming that what was billed and ordered was actually delivered. 3-way matching provides stronger protection against overpayment and fraud.

## How does AI improve invoice discrepancy detection?

AI can compare invoice line items against purchase orders, cost files, or contracts instantly and at scale, something manual review cannot do reliably across high invoice volumes. It flags variances in price, quantity, and item codes before export to your ERP, reducing the risk of errors slipping through and improving accuracy over time as the system learns your business’s patterns.

## Catch invoice errors before payment

See how Ottimate helps finance teams detect discrepancies early, protect margins, and safeguard vendor relationships.