Purchase Order Matching

Audience: Accounting Manager and Administrator

Summary: This article reviews both manual and automated Purchase Order (PO) Matching in MineralTree. PO Matching is available for File Connect, NetSuite, and Xero.

Topics covered:

• PO Matching in MineralTree
• PO Matching Settings and Configuration
• The Linking Process
• Manually Adding POs to an Invoice
• Syncing with your Accounting System

Purchase Order Matching in MineralTree

MineralTree’s Automated Purchase Order Matching functionality reduces the time required to process vendor invoices by automatically matching them to Purchase Orders (POs). When enabled, every draft invoice created in MineralTree goes through a linking process in which the system attempts to link each invoice line to a PO line. Accounting Managers can then review the results and make adjustments as needed.

Users can also manually associate invoices with POs while creating a new invoice or editing a draft. Once an invoice is posted back to the accounting system, PO matching can no longer be performed in MineralTree.

This guide explains how to enable and configure PO Matching, how Automated PO Matching works, the invoice capture settings that affect PO Matching, and how to manually associate invoices with POs.

Invoice Capture Default Settings for Purchase Orders

MineralTree offers two invoice capture options:

• Header Level — provides one summary line with the total invoice amount.
• Header and Line Level — breaks the invoice into line‑by‑line detail.

Automated PO Matching requires invoice capture at the Header and Line level.

If some vendors do not require line‑level capture, an Accounting Manager can change this setting at the vendor level by navigating to the Vendor Details page and adjusting the Default Invoice Preferences section.

Expenses or Items

This setting determines whether invoices are captured as expenses or items. It is a global setting that can be changed by a MineralTree Admin in Company Settings. Accounting Managers can override it at the vendor level in Default Invoice Preferences.

If a purchase order contains both items and expenses, you can convert items to expenses (and vice versa) once captured. After the invoice is saved, the convert button is no longer available and the line must be created manually.

PO Matching Settings and Configuration

PO Matching is disabled by default, and needs to be enabled within the Customer Administrator Application by navigating to Settings > Company Settings.  Once the overarching feature is enabled, users can also enable Automated PO Matching and set match tolerances (see below).

"PO Number Match" vs "Best Line Level Match"

• PO Number Match — compares the PO number captured from the invoice to open PO numbers in your ERP. If the numbers match, the PO links to the invoice, and invoice lines are matched or mismatched based on tolerance settings. If no PO is found, linking must be done manually. This option is ideal when vendors include PO numbers on invoices and you have many items with similar costs, quantities, and descriptions.
• Best Line Level Match — if no PO number is found, the system attempts to link invoice lines to open POs based on quantity and cost per (items) or amount (expenses). This option is ideal when vendors do not include PO numbers on invoices.

Note: This is a global setting and cannot be changed per vendor. Changes are not retroactive; they apply only to invoices captured after the setting is updated.

Match Tolerance

This setting controls the margin of error in linking invoice lines to PO lines. When comparing the Cost Per(on items) or the Total Amount(on expenses), you can require an exact match to consider the line successfully matched, or you can allow up to a 10% variance. If the invoice and PO line appear to be a match, but the Cost Per or Total Amount are outside of your allowed variance, that line will be marked as a "Mismatch", requiring further scrutiny by an Accounting Manager. If the variance is greater than 10%, the lines will not link at all.

Compare Invoice Quantity and PO Ordered Quantity or PO Received Quantity

This setting determines whether you want to match your invoice against what you have ordered or what you have received.

Note: If you choose Received, you must mark the items as received in your accounting system before the invoice is captured in MineralTree in order for Automated PO Matching to take place. If the items have not been received before the invoice arrives, you will need to manually re-link them after they are marked as received in your accounting system.

Invoice Coding from PO (Netsuite Only)

In NetSuite, header‑level coding can be pulled from the PO to the invoice. MineralTree supports the same functionality. Admins can configure this under Settings > Company Settings > Invoice Approval tab.

• PO Line — mimics PO line coding.
• PO Header — applies header coding if all items are coded the same way.

This is a global setting and cannot be changed per vendor.

Bypassing or Following Existing Invoice Approval Requirements for Payment

If invoice approval is required before payment, PO‑linked invoices can be configured to bypass this rule. Admins can toggle settings separately for matched and mismatched invoices. For example, matched invoices may bypass invoice approval, while mismatched invoices still require it before they can be paid.

The Linking Process

Once the feature is enabled, our linking engine runs continuously in the background to link invoice lines in MineralTree to PO lines in your accounting package.  Every time a new invoice is created in MineralTree, the engine will attempt to link each line-item to a corresponding line-item OR each expense to a corresponding expense on an open PO for the same vendor.  If an invoice is captured but the vendor is not matched to an existing vendor, PO Matching will not take place. To obtain the best results, we consider all the PO lines and invoice lines for a given vendor when running the linking process.  The following values (marked with an "*") are considered when linking invoice and PO lines:

If you have selected the Best Line Level Match setting, it is not necessary for the invoice to have a PO number in order for the linking engine to successfully link the invoice, but it does help ensure accuracy, especially if there are multiple open POs in MineralTree for a given vendor.  When a PO number(s) is specified on the invoice, the linking engine will give precedence to lines on this particular PO(s).  If the initial linking process fails to find the correct results, adding a PO number can help refine the results.

By considering multiple values simultaneously, MineralTree is able to link PO–Invoice lines even if there is some discrepancy between them. For example, if a PO line-item has a cost per value of $100, but a vendor charges $105, the linking will still be successful as long as the description lines are similar. If no PO association is found for a particular invoice line, the invoice line will display as unlinked and the invoice will be marked as mismatched. This can happen if there is no corresponding PO line in the system, or if there is not enough data to find a good match.

After the linking process is complete, MineralTree will evaluate whether the invoice line matches the PO line, by comparing the quantity, cost per, and amount values.  

Once an invoice is posted back to the accounting system or the PO Match is approved (see below), the invoice-PO links will be finalized, and the lines will no longer be considered as part of the linking process.  

Handling Exceptions and Re-Linking Invoices

After the linking process runs, a Relink button appears on the invoice details page. This allows users to re‑run the linking process.

In the New View:

In the Classic View:

In order to use the Relink function, a PO must be associated with the invoice.

In the New View, toggle to the PO tab of the invoice details screen in the upper left. Then click the PO Actions dropdown, and select Add PO:

In the Classic View, select Add PO just above the header level invoice information.

Once at least one PO is associated with the invoice, you can relink. Relinking will cause all existing invoice line links to be removed, and re-run the linking process for the invoice.  This is only available for draft invoices that have not yet been posted.

To help users manage POs with large numbers of lines, a "Search PO" dialog has been added, which allows users to filter the PO lines by their quantity, cost per, amount, and description values as well as view only unlinked lines.

Manually Adding POs to an Invoice

In the invoice details screen, after selecting a vendor, users can begin adding POs to an invoice by typing in the PO number or selecting one from the dropdown. All POs for the vendor, which are not closed or fully billed, will be available for selection. The POs themselves will still need to be created within your accounting system.

In the New view:

In the Classic view:

After a PO # is selected, the PO details (see below for list of supported fields) will appear at the top of the page. Additional PO #’s can be added if desired, and one can cycle between their details at the top of the screen. If automated invoice capture is enabled, MineralTree will capture the PO # from the invoice if possible.

Manually Linking PO Data to Invoice Lines

Once a PO has been added to an invoice, one can link individual invoice expenses and line-items to expenses and line-items on the associated PO.

In the New view, this is done by navigating to the PO in the upper left section of the Invoice Details Screen, above the image of the document.

Next, click the PO Actions button, and then select Link Lines. This puts you into linking mode: click the PO line you wish to attach, and then click the corresponding invoice line to link.

In the Classic view, this is done from an invoice line-item or expense by selecting the desired PO # and typing in the PO line number. 

This action will link the invoice to the PO and also update invoice coding based on the PO details. If available, the account/item, description, class, department, and location from the PO line will all be applied to the invoice line. Only one PO line # can be assigned to each invoice line, but lines from multiple POs can be associated to a single invoice. PO expenses can only be linked to one invoice expense, while PO line-items can be linked to line-items on multiple invoices until fully billed (billed qty. = total qty.) or closed.

After linking, MineralTree will display whether the information on the invoice (either captured or entered manually), matches what is found on the PO. Note the red and green icons.

An invoice is marked as matched at the summary level if all lines are matched, and mismatched otherwise. Users can override this, and manually mark an invoice as matched or mismatched. This status will display on both the invoices and invoice detail pages, and also governs whether invoice approval routing rules will come into effect (see above). Changes to PO information on invoices can be made up until the invoice is posted back to your accounting system, at which point any changes will need to be made in your accounting system itself.

Syncing with your Accounting System

To post a new or draft invoice to your accounting system, simply check “Post” on the invoice details screen and save; the invoice will be sent back to it in the next sync cycle. While the sync is still pending or ongoing, the invoice will remain in an “awaiting sync” status until the sync is completed. MineralTree will automatically create a corresponding bill in your accounting system, which will be linked to the appropriate PO(s). The PO itself will be updated based on what expenses and/or items were billed or partially billed in MineralTree. If the PO was fully billed, then it will no longer be available for billing in both your accounting system and MineralTree. The sync is bidirectional, so changes made in your accounting system will also sync to MT. If a bill is created from a PO in your accounting system, that bill will sync to MT with the PO associated, and the PO details will be updated as well.

Note: The precise data flow may vary slightly based on your accounting system.  Xero does not support native links between invoices and POs, so when invoices sync from MT to Xero, the appropriate PO(s) will be marked as billed, but there will by no linkage between the two.

Purchase Order Fields Available in MineralTree:

• Phone: 855‑672‑9669
• Email: mtsupport@mineraltree.com