This article provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) related to purchases in Payhawk.
Can employees use the Payhawk Receipts Mailbox for invoices related to purchases?
When an invoice states the number of the purchase and is sent to the Payhawk Receipt Mailbox for paid or unpaid expenses, the Payhawk optical character recognition (OCR) will extract the data and automatically link the invoice to the respective purchase.
If for some reason the number of the purchase cannot be read, you will have to link the invoice to the purchase manually.
Can requesters submit purchases for approval if the supplier has not been selected?
Yes. The intended process in Payhawk is that the supplier has to be created and added to the purchase before it is approved.
Can a requester assign a supplier that does not exist in Payhawk when creating a purchase?
No. The supplier must first be created in the system through the Supplier app by a Payhawk administrator. For more information on the ways to create suppliers, see the FAQ article on suppliers.
Can the purchase number for the expense be automatically extracted by the system?
Yes. The Payhawk optical character recognition feature (OCR) will automatically extract the PO number if it's included in the uploaded invoice.
Can Payhawk administrators delete a purchase after it has been approved?
Purchases can be manually closed by the requester or by Payhawk accountants and administrators. For more information, see the article on closing purchases.
Do the employees who can delete unsubmitted purchases need to be Payhawk administrators?
No. For more information, see the article about editing and deleting purchases.
Can Payhawk match multiple invoices to a single purchase?
Yes.
Can Payhawk match one invoice to multiple purchases?
No. If a single invoice relates to two separate purchase orders, you must upload the invoice twice and match each copy to the corresponding purchase order, including only the relevant items in each.
Does Payhawk support a three-way matching process?
Yes. For more information, see the section about the two- and three-way matching accounting process at Payhawk before payment.
How can users configure what categories of purchases require a receipt note?
Customers can select the categories that require a receipt note from the Dashboard > Settings > Purchases > Receipt note tab. For more information, see the article about setting the expense categories that require receipt notes for purchase requests.
Can Payhawk detect discrepancies automatically?
Yes. Payhawk automatically matches uploaded receipt notes and invoices to purchases and notifies in cases of quantity and/or price mismatches. For more information, see the article about defining discrepancy thresholds for purchases.
How can users define discrepancy thresholds and workflows?
You can set discrepancy thresholds from the Settings > Purchases > Rules tab. For more information, see the article about defining discrepancy thresholds for purchases.
At the same time, you can set custom approval workflows in case of discrepancies from the Settings > Workflows > Expense types > Bill field. For more information, see the article about defining workflows for bill payments with purchases.
How can users define who can submit purchases?
Users can set who can submit purchase requests from the Settings > Purchasеs > General tab. At the moment, Payhawk provides the Everyone and Accountants and Admins options.
Can users define a custom purchase numbering and prefix?
Yes. You can customize the data from the Settings > Purchases > General > Customization field.
Can users set a central invoicing email address to which the incoming invoices will be sent?
Yes. You can set the email address from the Settings > Purchases > General > Customization > Central invoicing email address field. For more information, see the article about configuring the basic settings for purchases.
Can a purchase be approved by multiple people?
Yes. You can customize the purchase request approval workflows from the Settings > Workflows > Purchases app. There you can set a specific role, such as a Payhawk accountant or administrator; a person, such as a team manager or a manager of a custom expense field, or select an amount-based custom approval workflow.
What are the different purchase statuses?
Submit - The purchase is not submitted or has been returned to the employee.
Review - The purchase is submitted but not reviewed, or it has been returned for review.
Approve - The purchase is reviewed but not yet approved.
Receive - The purchase is approved but not fully received.
Invoice - All items are fully received, but the purchase is not yet invoiced.
Pay - All items are fully received and invoiced, but one or more invoices are still not paid.
Close - All items are received and invoiced, but the purchase is not yet closed.
For the full details, see the lifecycle of purchases at Payhawk.
Can users archive or delete a purchase that has already been approved?
You cannot delete the purchase, but you can close it if it's no longer needed.
Can Payhawk generate reports for purchases based on specific criteria?
Yes. To filter purchases based on specific criteria, go to the Purchases app and select the desired filters.
For example, to view all received but not invoiced purchases, apply the Received status and Invoiced status filters. You can then export the filtered list as an Excel file by clicking the Download button. Alternatively, you can download a complete Excel report of all company purchases, including their statuses.
Are created purchase orders linked to the company's ERP or accounting software?
No.