Purchase order and invoice matching for hire companies
A fleet purchase order raised on one screen, the delivery note ticked off on another, the supplier invoice keyed into accounts by hand, the off-hire written on paper until someone types it. Every re-key is a delay and a place for a difference to hide. FlyWei provides invoice processing and PO matching for hire companies UK wide: we map your hire chain, from fleet purchasing and check-in to hire-period billing and deposits, then join up the hire system you already run so each fact is typed once. Start with the Chain Map: half a day on site, one written map.
Half a day on site, a written two page map, the one link to fix first and a fixed pilot quote. The fee is credited in full against the pilot.
The seven stages, in hire words
Every goods business runs the same seven links. In a hire depot the stock is the fleet, the sale is the contract and the invoice runs by the hire period. Here is what each link is called in your words, and what keyed once looks like at each one.
- 01 Purchasing
Fleet purchasing
Fleet and parts purchase orders raised once, with the asset record created on receipt from the same order
- 02 Goods in
Check-in and inspection
Check-in inspection on a phone, with damage charges raised from that record and the goods receipt posted against the PO
- 03 Stock
Fleet availability
Availability read from the live fleet, so the counter never promises a machine that is still out
- 04 Allocation
Hire booking
The contract raised from the booking, with the customer's own order reference carried through to the invoice
- 05 Goods out
Hire-out and delivery
Delivery and collection recorded on device, signed at the door, with the photo kept on the contract
- 06 Invoices
Hire-period billing
Off-hire recorded once, on device, so billing stops the same day and the invoice raises itself from the contract
- 07 Accounts
Accounts and deposits
Supplier invoices matched to PO and goods receipt, deposits and card payments posted to the ledger without re-keying
Where the same fact gets typed twice in a hire depot
These are the points we map first on a hire site. Each one is the same fact, typed by a second person into a second screen, and each one is where a difference hides until the customer or the supplier finds it.
The supplier invoice for a new machine
The purchase order is raised in the hire system. Weeks later the supplier's invoice arrives by email and is keyed again into accounts, then matched by eye to the order and the delivery note. We map where the three records live and join them, so only a difference reaches a person.
The asset record
The machine is signed for on paper at the gate. Days later someone creates the asset record by hand, typing the serial number and the purchase price from the delivery note. We map the receipt so the record is created from the order the moment the goods arrive.
The off-hire
The customer phones the off-hire in. It goes on a pad at the counter and is typed into the contract the next morning, so the hire period runs a day long and the credit follows a week later. We map the call to a single entry on a device, dated at the moment it is taken.
Damage at check-in
The fitter photographs the damage on a personal phone, describes it in an email, and a damage invoice is priced by hand a week later. We map check-in as one record, with the photo, the finding and the charge raised together.
Sub-hire and transport invoices
Kit hired in from another depot and the haulier's delivery charges arrive as monthly invoices and are matched to jobs on a spreadsheet at month end. We map each one to its job as it arrives, so job profit is known before the month closes.
The customer's order number
The customer's purchase order reference is read off the booking and typed into the invoice by hand. When it is wrong the invoice is queried and payment waits. We map the reference to travel with the contract from booking to invoice, typed once.
On site we walk your depot with the people who do each of these, count every point, take a baseline from your own data and pick the one link to key once first. Our delivered track record is in wholesale; the hire chain follows the same method.
Three records, one match, inside your hire system
Purchase order and invoice matching for a hire company checks the same three records that any goods business checks, relabelled for the fleet: the order you raised, the goods receipt when the machine, part or transport arrived, and the supplier invoice. We build the match inside the hire system you already run, through its API, its database or a scheduled import, rather than beside it.
- 01
Order
Fleet, parts, transport and sub-hire purchase orders raised once, with approval by role and value.
- 02
Receipt
Check-in, the goods receipt or the completed delivery recorded on device against that order.
- 03
Invoice
The supplier invoice captured from email or a supplier portal, never re-typed, and read against both.
- 04
Match
When all three agree the invoice is approved for payment. When they differ, only the difference goes to a person.
Questions hire companies ask
What is three-way matching in a hire company?
It checks three records against each other before a supplier is paid: the purchase order you raised, the goods receipt when the machine, parts or transport arrived, and the supplier invoice. When all three agree the invoice is approved. When they differ, only the difference goes to a person. We map where each record is created in your depot first.
Does this work with the hire system we already run?
Yes, by method. We map the hire system, the accounts package and whatever sits between them, then join them through the system's API, its database or a scheduled import. We do not replace the hire system. Where it lacks a step, such as a supplier portal or a device app for check-in, we write the module.
How does off-hire billing fit with PO and invoice matching?
They are two ends of one chain. Matching keeps money going out honest: no supplier is paid for a machine or part that was never ordered or never arrived. Off-hire keyed once keeps money coming in prompt: the hire period stops the day the customer calls, not the day someone types it. We map both on the same visit.
What does a hire company get from the Chain Map?
Half a day on site walking fleet purchasing, check-in, booking, hire-out, billing and accounts with the people who run them. You leave with a written two page map of every point where the same fact is typed twice, a baseline from your own data, the one link to fix first and a fixed pilot quote, credited against the pilot.
Have you done this for a hire company before?
Our delivered track record is in wholesale, where the purchase to pay chain we run matches supplier invoices to orders and receipts every day. In hire the chain follows the same method: the same three records, relabelled as fleet, parts and transport, inside the hire system you run. We map your version before we quote for any build.
Start with the Chain Map for your hire depot
Half a day on site with the people who raise the orders, check the kit in and chase the invoices. You leave with a written map, a countersigned baseline and a fixed pilot quote. No fee is published; it is credited in full against the pilot.