Perform a Three-Way Check Before Paying Rental Vendor Invoices

Quick Overview

Compare the authorized work order or estimate, evidence of completion, and the vendor invoice. Confirm property, vendor identity, scope, quantities, dates, taxes, totals, and approval limits. A match means the records agree; it does not require forcing a discrepancy into an approved category.

Common Mistakes

Use clear reasons such as unapproved scope, duplicate charge, quantity variance, missing completion evidence, price change, or wrong property. Assign an owner and response deadline. Keep the original invoice and any corrected version linked.

Common Questions Answered

Where staffing permits, the requester, completer, and payment approver should not be the same person. Record exceptions and supervisory approval when separation is impractical. Follow accounting policy for tax and vendor-master changes.

Ready to

Store the payment reference, date, final amount, and disposition of every variance. Periodic sampling should test both paid invoices and rejected items so the team can see whether upstream scopes or evidence standards need improvement.

Use the portfolio source map with the weekly decision brief. Review general recordkeeping context from NIST.