Spotting supplier price increases on invoices

The problem

A supplier raises a unit price on the invoice and the bill still gets entered. The amount is captured, but nobody compares it with last time, so the increase sits in the books for months.

What SI does

SI reads new supplier invoices and your recent bill or item history. It matches lines by supplier and item (SKU, description, or the code you use) and compares the unit price with the previous price for that pair. It lists increases and decreases, the old price, the new price, and the invoice date. Lines it cannot match, or unit prices that look like a pack-size change, are set aside instead of called an increase. It does not edit the bill or the catalog price.

Examples

The same job looks different in different businesses. These are illustrations, not client results.

• Restaurant

  This week's produce invoice is compared with the last one from the same vendor. Items with a higher unit price are listed before the bill is coded.

• Contractor

  A supplier's invoice for fittings is checked against the last three bills. One SKU is higher; another line is flagged because the pack size changed and may not be a real increase.

• Retailer

  Wholesale invoices for a repeating brand are compared with last month's unit costs, and increases are listed next to the current selling price so someone can decide whether to revisit it.

What it takes to set up

New invoices (PDF or the bill already in the accounting tool) and a history of recent unit prices, from the books or a sheet. A note on how you identify the same item. Setup is often a few days.

Try it yourself

Paste this into your SI tool of choice and swap the [bracketed] parts for your own details. It asks SI to stop and show you before it does anything.

Read these supplier invoices [files] and the recent price history [file or bills]. Match lines by supplier and [SKU or description]. Compare each unit price with the previous unit price for that item. List increases and decreases with old price, new price, invoice date, and supplier. Set aside lines you cannot match and lines where the pack size or unit changed. Do not edit bills or prices. Pause and show me before sending, submitting, posting, paying, or changing anything.