Supplier invoices, cleared overnight.
Third Shift builds the automation that collects your supplier invoices, matches them to purchase orders and posts them to your accounting system while the office is closed. Anything that doesn’t match waits for a person, and nothing gets paid until someone approves it.
What it handles
The invoice work nobody misses
The steps an accounts payable clerk does by hand, done in the same order, with the same checks, every night.
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Collecting invoices
From the AP inbox, supplier emails and the vendor portals you already log into. Each one is kept with the original attached, so nobody has to ask where a number came from.
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Reading and coding
Supplier, invoice number, dates, line items and GST/HST are read off the page and coded to the right accounts, using rules taken from how your team codes them today.
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Matching
Each invoice is checked against its purchase order and, where you track it, what was received. Prices, quantities and totals have to agree within the tolerance you set.
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Duplicates and bank details
The same invoice arriving twice, from a second email or a resent PDF, is flagged and held before it’s posted. New or changed bank details are always held for a call-back.
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Posting and the payment run
Matched invoices are posted as bills with the PDF attached and lined up for payment by their due dates. A person reviews and approves each payment run.
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Due dates and discounts
Due dates and early-payment discounts are tracked, so the morning summary says what’s due this week and which discounts are still worth taking.
How it works
From the inbox to an approved payment run
The AI reads and sorts. Rules and checks do the math.
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Collected
After hours, new invoices are gathered from the inbox and the portals, with the originals saved.
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Read and checked
The details come off each invoice, the math and the GST/HST are checked, and it’s compared with everything already posted.
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Matched
Each invoice is compared to its purchase order and receipt, where you use them. Inside your tolerance, it’s posted. Outside it, it’s held with the reason written next to it.
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Summarized
Before your team starts, one email: what was posted, what’s waiting and why, what’s due this week.
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Approved by a person
Your team clears the exceptions and approves the payment run. Nothing is paid without that sign-off.
What stays with a person
Built the way a careful AP team would want it
The checks are the ones a careful accounts payable team makes by hand, in the same order, on every invoice, every night.
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Payments
No money is paid or sent without a person signing off, unless you decide otherwise.
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Exceptions
An invoice that doesn’t match, a supplier it hasn’t seen before, or anything outside the rules waits for a person, with the reason.
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Bank details
New or changed supplier banking information is always held for a call-back to a number you already have.
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Access
Read-only access to the inbox wherever possible, a separate login in your accounting system, and access you can revoke at any time.
Who it’s for
A good fit if
- Someone on your team spends hours a week keying invoices.
- Invoices arrive by email and from a handful of supplier portals.
- You use purchase orders, or would if checking them weren’t so slow.
- You’ve paid an invoice twice, missed a discount, or found one in an inbox a month late.
Works with
What you already run
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- Sage
- NetSuite
- Gmail
- Outlook
- Excel
- Google Sheets
Using something else? Ask. If you can log into it, there’s usually a way to connect it.
Questions
What owners ask
Do we need purchase orders?
No. Without them, each invoice is checked against what you’ve paid that supplier before and against your coding rules, and anything unusual waits for a person. Purchase orders make the matching stricter, and we’ll tell you whether they’re worth adding.
What happens to an invoice it can’t read?
It’s held for a person with the original attached, and the morning summary lists it. Poor scans and handwritten invoices are the usual ones.
Can it pay our suppliers?
It lines up the payment run in your accounting system. A person approves the run before anything is paid, unless you decide otherwise.
How long does a first build take?
First builds typically ship within a few weeks. We run it alongside your team until it’s trusted, then hand it over.
What else we automate
Other places to start
- Inquiries and quotesInquiries logged and answered within minutes, quotes chased on a schedule.
- ReportingWeekly and monthly reports built overnight and checked against the source.
- Routine processesThe routine one person carries in their head, written down and run on a schedule.
- Built to fitReorder alerts, scheduling, timesheets, onboarding and small internal tools.
Book a call
Tell us how your invoices arrive
A free 20-minute call. Bring a rough count of invoices a month and the system you post them to, and we’ll tell you plainly whether it’s worth automating.
Prefer email? thirdshift.ca@gmail.com