BY NUMBER7 AI01
Receive
Accounts payable
- Evidence
- Supplier invoice file
- Decision
- Accept into the workflow
- Output
- Original document retained
Accounts payable workflow
One invoice.
A clear path to the books.
Receive, identify, check, code, approve and record the bill. When a check fails, interrupt the path with its source and owner. Track payment state separately from moving money.
SourceChecks & reviewAccounting result
Direct answer
What is an accounts payable workflow?
An accounts payable workflow is the operating path from supplier invoice receipt through identity and evidence checks, accounting treatment, exception resolution, required approval and an accepted accounting-system outcome. Payment and reconciliation state are tracked from the relevant system; recording state does not execute a payment.
AP workflow checklist
Every stage has an owner, evidence and output.
02
Identify
Accounts payable
- Evidence
- Vendor, entity, invoice number and PO reference when applicable
- Decision
- Choose the PO or non-PO path
- Output
- Structured bill with context
03
Check
AP and receiving
- Evidence
- Receipt, contract and applicable policy
- Decision
- Pass or interrupt the path
- Output
- Ready state or owned exception
04
Code
Accountant
- Evidence
- Entity, account and dimensions
- Decision
- Apply this entity’s treatment
- Output
- Coded bill
05
Approve
Designated approver
- Evidence
- Resolved exceptions and relevant policy
- Decision
- Authorize the material action
- Output
- Approval record
06
Post
Accounting system
- Evidence
- Approved accounting payload
- Decision
- Accept or return a failure
- Output
- Returned identifier or owned failure
07
Reconcile payment state
AP and treasury
- Evidence
- Reported payment-system status
- Decision
- Record and reconcile the state
- Output
- Open or settled state; no funds moved here
A process reference: configure the owners and control rules against your own purchasing and approval policies. No email is required to download the checklist.
Two possible paths
Move routine work. Route the judgment.
Receive Identify Check
Routine invoice
Checks pass.
- Source and client context assembled
- Arithmetic and applicable evidence supported
- Designated approval recorded
- Accounting handoff accepted
Exception
The cause gets an owner.
- Failed check and exact source retained
- Specific evidence or decision requested
- Returned answer re-checks the transaction
- Required approval, then accounting handoff
PO-backed: compare the invoice with the order, receipts and previous billing. Partial deliveries need cumulative state.
Non-PO: confirm business purpose, entity treatment and approval policy. A missing PO alone is not a rejection when policy permits non-PO spending.
Three places the path must stop
A status should explain what remains blocked.
The receipt covers fewer units than the invoice.
Posting waits for the missing receipt or a permitted policy resolution. The receiving owner gets the specific gap.
The line amounts do not support the total.
Repair a recoverable extraction error against the source or retain the conflicting invoice in review. Approval does not supply missing arithmetic support.
The accounting system does not confirm the bill.
Retain its response and owner. Reconcile an uncertain timeout before retrying; no accepted posting is assumed.
Illustrative controls, not measured customer outcomes.
Approval, posting and payment
These are separate outcomes.
- Review
- A person resolves uncertainty or inspects the evidence.
- Approval
- The designated authority permits the material action.
- Posting
- The accounting system accepts the bill and returns its result.
- Payment state
- The payment or accounting system reports what happened. Recording that state does not move funds.
- Touchless
- No human intervention inside an explicitly stated start and end boundary.
Recorded product workflow
See the operating product.
Existing AIdaptIQ product walkthrough. The source examples on this page are labelled separately.
Free Invoice Error Lab
Try the decisions behind the workflow.
Inspect arithmetic, invoice boundaries, client coding and changing receipt balances with original PDFs and checked answers.
Terms and sources
Use the checklist as a process reference.
Updated 9 October 2026. The owners and controls above are a Number7 AI process reference. The recorded product demonstration is separate from the illustrative examples. For multi-client delivery, explore invoice automation for accounting firms and CAS.
Intuit reference: Enter bills and record bill payments in QuickBooks Online.