Sphere Partners
New · FinanceCross-Functional

Three-way match. Cited, not just cleared.

Matches every invoice to its purchase order and contract terms, flags variances against tolerance, and routes exceptions before they reach your close cycle — every match cited to the source line item. Built for AP teams processing hundreds of invoices a month.

14 cited fields per invoice. Built on Sphere AI Foundry.

invoice_reconciliation — inv #INV-88213LIVE
00:00Ingest → vendor Reliant Supply Co., PO-55291read
00:03Quantity match → 480 units vs. PO 480 unitspassed
00:05Unit price → $18.40 billed vs. $17.25 contractedflagged
00:08Freight & tax → within contract tolerancepassed
00:09Disposition → Route to buyer, 1 variancerouted
review time 9sfields cited 14/14human sign-off required
Built on Sphere AI Foundry·Three-way match by design·21 years, 300+ clients

Manual matching doesn't scale with invoice volume

A single three-way match means an AP analyst pulling up the invoice, the purchase order, and the contract or master service agreement, and checking quantity, unit price, freight, tax, and payment terms line by line. At low volume that's manageable. At hundreds of invoices a month across dozens of vendors, it's the reason close runs late and duplicate or overbilled payments slip through.

89%
faster first-pass match vs. a manual review
14
fields extracted & cited per invoice
100%
of variances traceable to a source line item

Invoice in, cited match out

Four steps, every one logged and citable back to the source invoice, PO, and contract.

01
Ingest

Reads the invoice directly from your systems

PDF invoice, scanned paper invoice, EDI 810, or UBL/XML e-invoice — read from your ERP, AP automation platform, or document repository. No separate upload step.

Source document
INV-88213 — Reliant Supply Co.
02
Match against PO and contract

Every line checked against your standard

Quantity, unit price, freight, tax, and payment terms — each checked against the linked purchase order and the governing contract or MSA rate card, not a generic summary.

Example query
"Does the billed unit price match the contracted rate for PO-55291?"
03
Cite every variance

No variance without a citation

Each mismatch or confirmation links back to the exact line item on the invoice and the corresponding line on the PO or contract — the citation travels with the finding, not as a separate lookup.

Cited finding
Unit price exceeds contracted rate by $1.15/unit.
cited to Invoice line 3 / MSA §4.2 rate card
04
Classify & route

One disposition, one consolidated exception list

The agent returns Match, Match-with-tolerance, or Exception, with a consolidated variance list routed to the buyer or approver for sign-off before payment release.

Disposition
MatchMatch-with-toleranceException ✓

14 fields, every one cited

What the agent extracts from every invoice it reconciles.

Match summary & disposition
Vendor & remit-to verification
PO and contract linkage
Quantity variance by line item
Unit price vs. contracted rate
Freight & tax reasonableness
Payment terms & early-pay discount
Duplicate invoice detection
Consolidated variance list
GL coding recommendation

Typical inputs

What the agent reads, and what it connects to.

Documents

  • Vendor invoice (PDF, scanned paper, EDI 810, or UBL/XML e-invoice)
  • Purchase order and PO change orders
  • Master service agreement or contract rate card
  • Goods-receipt or delivery confirmation
  • Vendor W-9 or banking-details record, for remit-to verification

Systems

  • ERP (general ledger and AP subledger)
  • AP automation / invoice capture platform
  • Procurement or e-sourcing system
  • Document repository or imaging system

Is this the right fit?

Built for volume — not a one-off invoice.

✓ Works best for

  • AP teams processing 200+ invoices a month across multiple vendors
  • Organizations standardizing on a fixed tolerance policy for three-way match
  • Controllership wanting every variance traceable to source

Too small for

  • A single one-off invoice an AP clerk can check end to end faster than configuring the match
  • Replacing buyer or controller judgment on final payment release
  • Non-PO spend without a purchase order or contract to match against

Grounded in your tolerance policy, not a black box

Compliance-first, the same standard every Sphere agent is held to.

The agent requires a linked PO and contract before it will return a disposition, and every match sits between invoice receipt and payment release — never past it. A buyer or approver confirms every Exception before a payment is scheduled.

Variances reference your configured tolerance policy and segregation-of-duties controls directly — see how the same audit-trail standard applies across regulated deployments in Governed AI for Banks and Private LLM Deployment for Banks and Financial Institutions.

Prerequisites linked PO

A linked purchase order and contract rate card are required before a disposition is returned.

Human review required

A buyer or approver confirms every Exception before it reaches a payment release decision — never fully autonomous.

Regulatory grounding SOD controls

Variances reference your configured tolerance policy and segregation-of-duties controls directly in every match report.

Foundation Sphere AI Foundry

Access controls and audit trail configured here carry forward to every other agent you deploy.

Frequently asked

Does the Invoice & Reconciliation Agent replace an AP clerk or the approver?

No. It replaces the manual line-by-line match against the PO and contract. A human approver still confirms every exception and signs off before an invoice is released for payment.

What invoice formats does the Invoice & Reconciliation Agent support?

PDF invoices, scanned paper invoices, e-invoices in EDI 810 or UBL/XML format, and vendor-portal exports. Additional formats can be added during onboarding.

How does it integrate with an existing ERP or AP automation platform?

It reads directly from your ERP, AP automation platform, or document repository — no separate upload step required. Integration scope is confirmed during deployment planning.

Is every variance from the Invoice & Reconciliation Agent traceable to the source documents?

Yes. Every match, variance, and extracted value cites the specific line item on the invoice and the corresponding line on the PO or contract — there is no finding without a citation back to both source documents.

How is this different from a generic OCR or invoice-capture tool?

It is built specifically around three-way matching against a fixed tolerance policy and the 14 fields an AP close workflow needs, not a general-purpose data extractor. It runs on Sphere AI Foundry, so the access controls and audit trail configured here carry forward to other agents you deploy.

Start here

See it on your own invoices

Bring three real invoices to the demo. We'll show the match output live — disposition, citations, and the consolidated variance list, on your own documents.

Looking for a different workflow? Browse the full Agent Catalog.

Talk to a solutions architect

Direct to a senior architect — never a sales queue. Replies within one business day.

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