Automated audit process
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of increasing profits for an enterprise by reducing overpayments for products purchased by medium and large companies that process tens of thousands of vendor invoices in a month from a multitude of vendors comprising:
- storing in memory prices for products and effective dates of such prices including one or more of the following price factors;
volume discount, seasonal pricing, price protection, commodity pricing, competition pricing, and cash discount;
inputting payment history data, accounts payable data, and invoice data into memory;
automatically examining each invoice received from a vendor of the enterprise on a line-by-line item basis to determine a best system price for an item on the line being examined as a lowest price stored in the system that is valid for the appropriate base data of an item and comparing this best system price with an invoice price, the best system price being determined by reviewing the stored payment history data, accounts payable data, invoice data, and related price factors such that the best system price is based on a valid price for a determined base date of the item;
and flagging the invoice as containing an exception where the invoice price differs from the best system price.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A process for increasing profits of a business engaged in the purchase of large numbers of products and/or products of volatile pricing from numerous vendors that operates to identify pricing errors, preferably typically before payment, by automatically reviewing all invoices typically in the order they are received to determine a best system price for each line item of each invoice by reference to pricing factors such as volume discount, seasonal pricing, price protection, commodity pricing, competition pricing, and cash discount recorded in memory for the subject item and reference to payment history data, accounts payable data and invoice data. From the pricing factors and associated data, a best system price is determined and compared to the invoice price for the item so that pricing errors are automatically uncovered and, if appropriate, flagged to identify the same as an exception for warning or notification.
13 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of increasing profits for an enterprise by reducing overpayments for products purchased by medium and large companies that process tens of thousands of vendor invoices in a month from a multitude of vendors comprising:
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storing in memory prices for products and effective dates of such prices including one or more of the following price factors;
volume discount, seasonal pricing, price protection, commodity pricing, competition pricing, and cash discount;inputting payment history data, accounts payable data, and invoice data into memory; automatically examining each invoice received from a vendor of the enterprise on a line-by-line item basis to determine a best system price for an item on the line being examined as a lowest price stored in the system that is valid for the appropriate base data of an item and comparing this best system price with an invoice price, the best system price being determined by reviewing the stored payment history data, accounts payable data, invoice data, and related price factors such that the best system price is based on a valid price for a determined base date of the item; and flagging the invoice as containing an exception where the invoice price differs from the best system price. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
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storing in memory prices for products and effective dates of such prices including one or more of the following price factors;
volume discount, seasonal pricing, price protection, commodity pricing, competition pricing, and cash discount;inputting payment history data, accounts payable data, and invoice data into memory; automatically examining each invoice received from a vendor of the enterprise on a line-by-line item basis to determine a best system price for an item on the line being examined as a lowest price stored in the system that is valid for the appropriate base data of an item and comparing this best system price with an invoice price, the best system price being determined by reviewing the stored payment history data, accounts payable data, invoice data, and related price factors such that the best system price is based on a valid price for a determined base date of the item; and flagging the invoice as containing an exception where the invoice price differs from the best system price. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification