A two-way match is an accounts payable control that compares a supplier invoice with the purchase order it refers to. Items, quantities, unit prices and totals must agree, within a tolerance the company sets, before the invoice is approved for payment.
It is the lighter sibling of the three-way match. It confirms that the company is being billed what it agreed to pay, but not that the goods or services were actually received.
When to use it
Two-way matching suits purchases where there is nothing physical to receive, or where receipt is easy to confirm another way: software subscriptions, recurring services, utilities and low-value orders. For physical goods, especially larger orders, a three-way match is the safer choice.
Example
A company has a PO for a software subscription at $1,200 a month (illustrative). The March invoice arrives for $1,350. The two-way match flags the $150 difference, and the invoice goes back to the requester to confirm whether seats were added or the supplier made an error.
Common pitfalls
- Treating a match as proof of delivery. A perfect match on an order that never arrived still pays for nothing.
- Tolerances that are too loose. A wide percentage tolerance on large invoices lets real overcharges through.
- Matching totals only. A correct total can hide a wrong unit price offset by a wrong quantity.
- Using it for everything because receiving is never recorded, which quietly turns off the stronger control.