Supplier statements
A statement is not a bill. IPP keeps it out of your books.
Month-end brings statements of account into the same inbox as the invoices: the same supplier letterhead, a reference number, a date and a large figure at the bottom. Booked as a bill, a statement’s balance pays again for invoices you have already paid, or will pay twice once the invoices themselves are entered. InvoiceParser Pro recognises a statement uploaded as an invoice and keeps it away from approval and from your accounting system.
How a statement is recognised
IPP reads the page text. A document is treated as a statement when its first title is a statement (“Statement”, “Statement of Account”, “Customer Statement”) and at least one more sign of a statement is on the page:
- aged balance headings: current, 30, 60 and 90 days;
- an opening balance and a closing balance;
- a ledger table with a running balance column;
- the AI review pass classing the document as something other than an invoice.
What happens to it
An invoice that mentions a statement in its footer or on a remittance slip stays an invoice, because its first title is “Invoice”. A real statement is stored at low confidence with an error on it: this is a statement, not an invoice. An error is not a warning, so it cannot be marked as seen and waved through.
It is held out of automatic and bulk approval. Separately, every push to QuickBooks Online, Xero or Zoho Books refuses it as not an invoice, on its own check, so a statement does not reach your accounting system as a bill. The way on is to reject it and keep the statement for reconciling against the invoices.
Several invoices in one file
Scanners and suppliers sometimes send several invoices as one PDF. When a file has two or more invoice titles, each with its own labelled number and a total after it, IPP flags the file and asks for the invoices as separate uploads, instead of booking the first one and losing the rest. The record keeps the first printed number and is marked low confidence.
Some files only look like several invoices, and are not flagged: one invoice running over several pages, a page of remittance advice or a delivery note, two copies of the same invoice, and a credit note that names several invoices.
Paying the same invoice twice
Statements are one way to pay twice; the same invoice arriving twice is the other. Each new invoice is compared with the past year of invoices in the workspace: the same supplier, number, total and date, or the same invoice under a slightly different spelling of the supplier’s name, or the same total on the same date from what looks like the same supplier. A possible duplicate is flagged with the reason it matched, held out of automatic approval, and pushing it asks you to confirm first.
Invoices that state different invoice numbers are not grouped as duplicates, so three sequential invoices from one supplier on one day stay three bills. Nothing is deleted automatically: you choose which copies to keep, and removed copies stay in Trash for 30 days.
Reconciling the statement itself
Comparing a statement line by line against the bills you hold is a separate feature that is not generally available yet. Today the statement works as your checklist: filter the invoice list to that supplier and period, check what is there, and download every matching PDF at once, renamed by supplier and invoice number.
What it does not do
- It does not split a file that holds several invoices into separate invoices.
- It does not reconcile a statement against your bills automatically; that is not generally available yet.
- A statement that does not print a statement title is not caught by this rule. It is reviewed like any invoice, where the arithmetic and duplicate checks still apply.
- It does not pay suppliers or move money.
Questions buyers ask
What stops a supplier statement being pushed to QuickBooks as a bill?
A push to QuickBooks Online, Xero or Zoho Books refuses a document recognised as a statement, on its own check. It is also held out of automatic and bulk approval, with an error that cannot be marked as seen.
Will an invoice that mentions “statement” in its footer be held?
No. A document is treated as a statement only when its first title is a statement and another sign of one is on the page. An invoice’s first title is “Invoice”.
Does IPP split a PDF that holds several invoices?
No. It flags the file and asks for each invoice as a separate upload, so nothing is booked from half a file.
Does IPP stop me paying the same invoice twice?
It flags possible duplicates against the past year of invoices, holds them out of automatic approval and asks you to confirm before pushing one. It does not pay suppliers, so the payment decision stays with you.