What is the First Time Match Rate for Invoice Processing?

First time match rate or first time pass rate is an important AP KPI for efficiency.

However, how do you calculate it, and which invoices should you include in your calculation?

We suggest that the First Time Match Rate:

• Does not include Non-PO invoices. Invoices without a purchase order are not included in this data. The metric can be updated to read, First Time Match Rate for PO invoices to avoid confusion
• Does not include rejected duplicate invoices. These wouldn’t generally be considered valid invoices.

A first time match rate calculates the rate at which invoices successfully match to the Purchase Order on the first attempt as a percent of total attempted matches of invoices to Purchase Orders

First Time Match rate Includes all PO invoices e.g., 3-Way-Match (PO, invoice, receipt) or 2-way-Match (PO, Invoice for Assumed Receipt). 

Invoices without a PO and POs, where the PO is created AFTER the receipt of an invoice are excluded from the data. 

First pass match means the data on the invoice matches the data on the PO (and the receipt if it’s a 3-way match). There may be additional approvals or fraud checks required for certain levels of spend, although typically these are covered at time of PO. But if the PO and Invoice match without needed changes, it should still be counted as a first pass match.

Many organizations only consider items as a "touch" when an Analyst needs to action the invoices.

For more KPIs visit https://sharespace.digital/article/top-10-kpis-purchase-pay 

5 Ways to Increase First Time Match Rate

 Case Study: How Leveraging Intelligent Invoicing Can Take First Time Match Rate From 40% to 96% And Save Your Organization $65m