From Settings > Purchases and the General, Receipt note, and Rules tabs, Payhawk administrators can configure purchase settings for the company.
General purchase settings
From the General tab, you can define the basic settings for purchases such as specifying who can submit purchase requests for approval and defining the numbering convention applied to purchases.
To configure the basic purchase settings for your company:
Go to the General tab:
In the Roles section, use the drop-down menu to select which employees in your company can submit purchases for approval.
In the Customization section, define the number prefix and format for auto-generated purchase numbers, such as PO-[auto-generated number].
(Optional) You can specify a central invoicing email address to be automatically linked to purchases, allowing suppliers to send invoices directly.
(Optional) Add your company logo to have it automatically displayed on all purchases.
(Optional) You can add extra invoicing details to purchases by enabling the Additional information toggle. Enter a title for the section and provide the information you want to appear on the purchases.
Click on Save changes to confirm your settings.
Receipt notes for specific expense categories
From the Receipt note tab, you can require receipt notes for purchases of a specific category. The expense categories in this tab are defined in Settings > Expense fields, and can be managed from Settings > Expense fields > Built-in fields > Categories.
Requiring a receipt note for an expense category will trigger the three-way matching process for that category and will require the Finance team to check the details of the purchase, the supplier's invoice, and the receipt note before the payment is executed.
To select the expense categories that will require receipt notes for purchases:
Go to the Receipt note tab to view the defined expense categories and sub-categories for your company. Select the checkboxes for the ones you wish to require a receipt note.
Click on Save changes.
Notes on discrepancy rules
Expense categories configured to require receipt notes for purchases trigger a three-way matching process (between the purchase, invoice, and receipt note) while expense categories that do not require receipt notes for purchases trigger a two-way matching process (between the purchase and invoice).
If during the matching Payhawk identifies a discrepancy between the amounts in the documents, the system will trigger an approval process for the payment according to the pre-defined workflows for the expense type linked to purchases.
To simplify the payment process, Payhawk allows you to define discrepancy rules for purchase-related expense types that allow for deviations in the amounts of the documents (purchase, invoice, and receipt note if required).
Payhawk will trigger a discrepancy approval workflow in the following cases:
If the invoiced amount is higher than the amount on the purchase with more than the allowed discrepancy threshold.
If the received items are fewer than the purchased ones and the receipt note has its I don't expect to receive more checkbox checked.
If the received items are more than the purchased ones.
Discrepancy rules can only be set in your base account currency. If a purchase is received in a different currency, Payhawk uses the current exchange rate to calculate the discrepancy. For example, if you set a discrepancy rule of GBP 20 and receive a purchase exceeding the approved amount by EUR 21, no discrepancy will be triggered.
Auto-close rules and discrepancy thresholds
To define discrepancy rules for purchases:
Go to the Rules tab:
Specify whether auto-closing has to be enabled for purchases in your company.
Use the Workflow configuration link to assign roles or employees authorized to initiate payments for discrepancies. For details, refer to the article on setting workflows for purchases.
Under Amount discrepancy, set a percentage and/or specific amount as the acceptable threshold.
Click on Save changes.
If a discrepancy in quantity exists, the amount discrepancy tolerance will be ignored.
