Shops sequence accounts payable work in a few recognisable ways, and the sequence affects how much of a vendor error can still be recovered by the time anyone notices it. This article describes the common arrangements, why timing matters, and the order most shops settle on.
It describes the process rather than the product, so it applies whether the work is done in WickedFile or on paper.
Three common sequences
Paying from the statement. The statement arrives, the total is reviewed for plausibility, and it is paid. Invoices are not compared against it, and parts are not checked against repair orders. A charge for a part that went back two months earlier is paid along with everything else.
Reconciling at month end. Invoices are filed as they arrive, and at month end someone ties each statement line to an invoice. This finds missing paperwork and billing errors. It finds them three to six weeks after the event, by which point many vendor return windows have closed.
Reconciling through the month. Invoices are worked within a day or two of arriving, and anything that cannot be placed is asked about that week. The month-end statement becomes a final check rather than the first review. The total amount of work is similar to the previous arrangement, moved earlier.
Why timing affects what can be recovered
Most AP questions have a limited window in which they can be answered.
A part sent back to a vendor is creditable for a defined period and not after it. A technician can usually recall a specific part for a couple of weeks. A service advisor can explain a blank PO field within the same month more readily than several months later.
So the same question can produce a credit when asked early and a write-off when asked late, independently of how carefully the work is done. That is the practical reason the sequence matters.
The sequence most shops settle on
Documents are captured the same day they arrive. Invoices, credit memos and statements, scanned at close from a single tray.
Parts tie to jobs automatically, because the PO number on the invoice is the repair order number. This depends on a habit at the parts counter. See PO numbers.
Exceptions are worked within a day or two. Not every document, only the lines where money cannot be placed.
Questions the back office cannot answer go to the person who was there, that week.
Open credits are chased on a schedule rather than when they come to mind. Weekly is usually enough.
The statement is the final check before payment, confirming every charge has a document and every part is accounted for.
Vendors with recurring discrepancies get a conversation, with the documents to support it.
How the work usually divides
The shop orders parts and answers questions about them. Reconciliation is not part of that role, since an advisor's time is committed to the vehicles in front of them.
The back office reconciles and raises the questions. It sees across shops and vendors, which is where repeated patterns become visible.
Someone above shop level reviews. Separating the person who spends from the person who signs off is ordinary practice, and it is the same arrangement used elsewhere in the business.
Judging where a process currently sits
The age of the oldest unresolved item is a direct indicator.
Under two weeks is consistent with reconciling through the month. Around six weeks is consistent with month-end reconciliation. Three months or more is consistent with paying from the statement.
It is a more useful measure than a match rate, because it reflects whether questions are still being asked inside the window where they can be answered.
Where WickedFile fits
WickedFile is built around working invoices through the month, with the statement check as a backstop rather than the main event.
Moving from month-end reconciliation is largely a matter of relocating the same work: a short daily pass instead of one long session, which is what your daily, weekly and monthly checklist sets out. The returns side of the sequence is covered in returned is not credited.
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