Receive inventory from supplier documents without double-counting stock
A controlled receiving process for supplier invoices, receipts, and packing slips—from document capture through reviewed stock changes.
Separate document capture from stock changes
A photographed invoice or packing slip is evidence of a delivery, but it should not change inventory the moment it is uploaded. The safer pattern has two stages: extract the rows, then review and confirm them.
During review, compare the detected product name, SKU, quantity, unit, unit cost, and supplier with the source document. Exclude lines that are not stock—freight, tax, deposits, or services are common examples. Correct partial deliveries instead of accepting the quantity that was ordered.
Match existing products deliberately
SKU is usually the strongest match when suppliers use it consistently. A normalized product name can be a useful fallback, but it needs human review because descriptions change. “3/4 in. copper elbow” and “Copper 90 elbow, 0.75” may be the same item; two visually similar fittings may not be.
When a row matches an existing product, receiving should add the confirmed quantity. When it does not match, create a new product only after its name, unit, category, reorder level, and cost are understandable to the next person.
Preserve a useful cost basis
Replacing the old unit cost with the latest invoice price can distort the value of stock already on hand. A weighted average is more stable:
new average cost = (old quantity × old cost + received quantity × received cost) ÷ new quantity
This is not a full accounting valuation method for every business, but it gives daily job-cost estimates a more representative material cost than using only the newest purchase.
Prevent duplicate receiving
Supplier documents often get photographed twice: once in the field and again by the office. A receiving system should compare a document fingerprint and flag likely duplicates before stock changes. The review history should show whether a document is processing, ready for review, confirmed, failed, or dismissed.
If a scan fails, keep the source long enough to retry it. If it succeeds, retain the receiving metadata and resulting stock adjustments even after the source document reaches the company’s configured retention limit.
Verify the receiving total
When the supplier document includes a total, compare it with the sum of the selected rows. A difference does not always mean the scan is wrong—tax, shipping, or non-stock charges may explain it—but the difference should be visible before confirmation.
The final audit trail should answer: which document was used, which rows were included, what products were matched or created, who confirmed it, and exactly how each on-hand quantity changed.