When Ariba Buyer finds discrepancies on an invoice that do not meet your company's invoicing policies (that is, if the invoice or line items on an invoice are out of tolerance, or violates your company rules in some way), these exceptions must be reconciled manually. Ariba Buyer uses the Invoice Reconciliation (IR) document to manage and track the exceptions.

If a reconciler does not take action within a set period of time, as defined by your company, the IR document is escalated to the reconciler's supervisor, who must then reconcile the exceptions.

There are two separate actions in the invoice reconciliation process (see the process flow diagram):

Reconcile the Invoice Reconciliation (IR) document:

1. Ariba Buyer checks approval rules to decide which users should reconcile the IR document. The first reconcilers are typically purchasing agents or other administrators who are able to handle the exceptions.
2. Reconcile the IR document by accepting, disputing, or referring exceptions for the IR document as a whole or for each line item.
3. Add comments to explain the reconciliations at the header or line item level.
4. Submit the reconciliation for approval.

Approve the IR document:

1. The approver of an IR document is typically an Accounts Payable administrator. The approvers review and approve or reject the reconciliation. The approver can also refer the IR document to another approver.
2. Once the IR document is fully approved, Ariba Buyer automatically approves the related payment request and the payment process begins. If the IR document is rejected, the payment request is not approved and payment does not proceed.
3. Ariba Buyer sends a status update to the supplier through Ariba Supplier Network (Ariba SN).