Invoice Bank-Detail Scanning: Why Extraction Isn't Verification

Modern accounting software can read an invoice in seconds.

Tools such as Dext, Hubdoc, Lightyear, AutoEntry, ApprovalMax and Telleroo can automate parts of the accounts-payable process, extracting information from invoices and reducing manual data entry.

This is a major improvement over manually entering every invoice into an accounting system. But when it comes to bank details, there is an important question:

Does extracting the information make it trustworthy?

What invoice-reading software does

Invoice-reading and accounts-payable automation software can use OCR and other automated technologies to extract information such as:

• supplier name;
• invoice number;
• invoice date;
• VAT;
• total amount;
• payment terms;
• sort code;
• account number.

That information can then be sent to accounting or payment software. For finance teams processing hundreds of invoices, this can save considerable time.

The problem with bank details

Imagine a fraudster sends an invoice that looks exactly like one from your genuine supplier.

The company name is correct. The logo is correct. The invoice number looks plausible. The amount is believable. But the bank details have been changed.

Invoice-reading software may successfully extract the fraudulent bank details. In other words:

The software has accurately read the wrong information.

Modern AP software can add additional checks

This is why many modern platforms now go beyond simple OCR.

Dext Payments, for example, has Supplier Shield functionality that can compare invoice bank details with supplier records and other validation sources. Lightyear can compare bank details extracted from an invoice against details already held for a supplier. Telleroo combines invoice bank-detail scanning with supplier verification, alerts and Confirmation of Payee.

These are valuable layers of protection. But they are still fundamentally different from having an independent, verified directory of supplier bank details.

Paylist takes a different approach

Paylist isn't trying to read invoices better. It provides an independent source of verified supplier bank details.

A business is verified before its Paylist record goes live, and the business maintains its own payment information. That means the finance team can establish the supplier's bank details independently of the invoice.

Two different questions

Invoice-scanning software asks: “What bank details does this document contain?”

Paylist asks: “What are the verified bank details for this business?”

Those questions may sound similar, but they solve different problems.

These aren't competing technologies

Paylist and invoice-processing software aren't competing approaches. They address different parts of the accounts-payable process.

Invoice-reading software automates the extraction and processing of information from an invoice. Paylist provides an independent, verified source of supplier bank details.

A business can therefore use both. For example, Dext, Hubdoc, Lightyear, AutoEntry, ApprovalMax or Telleroo could process and approve invoices, while Paylist provides the verified supplier bank details independently of the invoice.

Automation plus verification

The future of accounts payable isn't simply about removing people from the process. It's about removing unnecessary manual tasks while putting stronger controls around the tasks that matter.

Reading an invoice automatically is useful. Knowing that the bank account belongs to the supplier is even more important.

Paylist doesn't compete with invoice-reading technology by trying to read invoices better. It tackles the problem from a different direction: by providing a verified source of bank details so businesses don't have to rely on the invoice as their source of truth.