Invoice management software helps companies automate invoice processing workflows, scanning and extracting data from received invoices, routing them through approval processes, matching them against purchase and sales orders, and transferring payments electronically to eliminate paper records and manual data entry.
Core Capabilities of Invoice Management Software
To qualify for inclusion in the Invoice Management category, a product must:
- Pull invoices from other software or through scanning and OCR
- Store invoice files along with approval and payment history
- Consolidate multiple invoices or split an invoice into multiple
- Provide standard approval workflows that can be customized by users
- Match invoices with purchases and sales orders as well as with payments
- Sync with company accounts to transfer payments for approved invoices
- Track different types of payment such as deposits or partial payments
- Apply multiple payments to one invoice or one payment to multiple invoices
- Monitor due dates and late payments for AR and AP invoices
Common Use Cases for Invoice Management Software
Accounting and finance departments use invoice management software to streamline the full accounts payable workflow. Common use cases include:
- Automating invoice capture via scanning, OCR, and integrations with supplier systems
- Routing invoices through customizable approval workflows with mobile access for remote review
- Reconciling invoices against purchase orders and managing partial or multi-payment tracking
How Invoice Management Software Differs from Other Tools
Invoice management software focuses on the inbound processing and approval of received invoices, while billing software handles the outbound creation and sending of invoices to customers. Many invoice management tools also integrate with or provide features of procurement software and accounting software to support end-to-end payables management.
Insights from G2 on Invoice Management Software
Based on category trends on G2, automated invoice capture and customizable approval workflows stand out as the most valued capabilities. These platforms deliver reductions in manual processing time and improved visibility into payment status as primary outcomes of adoption.
