Scan Supplier Bills into Purchases with AI

Supplier bills arrive as paper. Some are printed by modern billing software, some are handwritten, and many run to several pages with notes in the margin. Typing every line into a purchase is slow, and it is where costs and quantities go wrong. Bill scanning in AIFFICIENTO turns photos of the bill into a purchase draft. Geto reads the lines, and you check them before anything is saved.

What a bill scan produces

A scan creates a purchase draft. A draft is not stock yet. It is a list of lines that Geto has read: the product, the quantity, the cost and any expiry date printed on the bill. You check the draft, fix what needs fixing, and then save.

Once a purchase is saved, the received quantities go into stock and the amount becomes a payable to that supplier. This is why the review step matters. A wrong quantity is easy to fix on the draft and harder to trace after the stock has moved.

What reads well and what does not

Printed bills from billing software scan cleanly. Handwritten bills also work, including multi-page ones, but the more hurried the handwriting, the more carefully you need to check. Faded thermal paper, crumpled pages and photos taken at a sharp angle all reduce accuracy. Smudged figures are the most common source of a wrong cost.

Before you scan

1. Lay the bill flat on a dark or plain surface.
2. Use good light, and avoid shadows falling across the lines.
3. Include the top of the first page, with the supplier name, bill number and date.
4. Take the pages in order, and include the page with the total.
5. Check that every line is inside the frame. Cut-off lines are the most common reason an item goes missing.

Step by step: scanning a three-page bill

1. Open Purchases and start a new purchase from a bill scan.
2. Choose the supplier, so the payable is recorded against the right account.
3. Photograph page one, then page two, then page three.
4. Wait for Geto to build the draft.
5. Read each line against the paper. Check the product name, quantity, unit cost and any expiry date.
6. Fix anything that does not match. If a line is a product you do not have yet, Geto prepares a new product. Confirm it only after you check its details.
7. Compare the draft total with the total on the bill, including any tax or discount lines.
8. Save the purchase.

If the totals do not match, do not save. Find the line that is different first. Small differences often come from a quantity read as a different digit.

Matching lines to products you already have

Check the product on each line before you save. A line can look like it belongs to two products. Common cases are two sizes of the same item, a brand written in a short form, or a supplier code that does not match your own product name. Correct the product on the line before saving. Adding a duplicate product later is much harder to undo than fixing one line now.

Checking the total without guesswork

The total check is the quickest way to catch a bad read. Add up the line amounts on the draft yourself, then compare them with the printed subtotal. Next, apply any discount or tax lines in the same order the bill does. If the figures still differ, look at the lines with the most digits first, because a misread 8 for a 3 changes the total the most. Only save when the draft and the bill agree, or when the difference is a rounding line that the supplier printed.

Expiry dates on received batches

Many bills and packs show an expiry date. Enter it on the received batch. Expiry watch uses these dates to warn you about stock that is close to expiry. This matters most for grocery, pharmacy and cosmetics stock, where a batch may stay on the shelf for weeks.

After the purchase is saved

• Stock levels go up by the received quantities.
• The supplier balance shows what you owe. Record supplier payments as you make them, so the ledger stays true.
• Low stock appears on the reorder list. A repeat order can be prepared from a previous purchase when you want to buy the same items again.
• If goods come back to the supplier, record a purchase return rather than editing the original bill.

A weekly routine that keeps you accurate

Pick one or two days for deliveries, and scan the bill on the same day the goods arrive. Bills that are scanned in a batch at the end of the week are the ones where details get lost. Keep the paper with the purchase until the supplier's balance is cleared, so you have something to check against if a figure is questioned.

Permissions and internet

Bill scanning uses your AI allowance and needs an internet connection. The Growth plan includes a larger allowance for bill scanning. Each user's permissions apply to scanning, the same as everywhere else in the app. If a user is not allowed to see purchases, they will not see the scan results either.

Where people go wrong

• Saving without review. The draft is a starting point. Read every line.
• Scanning the same bill twice. Check the bill number against recent purchases before you start.
• Ignoring cost changes. If the new unit cost is higher than last time, update the sale price or check your margin before the shelf is restocked.
• Forgetting the total page. Without it, you cannot check the sum, so always photograph it.

A short example

Picture a baqala owner who receives a weekly delivery with a three-page handwritten bill. He photographs each page, reviews 28 lines, corrects two quantities that were written unclearly, and checks the total against the paper. He saves the purchase, records a partial payment, and the reorder list updates for the items that are running low. The whole task is one session, and the paper is filed with the purchase reference.

To see the feature in more detail, read the bill scanning page. For the wider assistant, see Geto. If you want to try bill scanning on your own bills, start the 30-day free trial. It needs no credit card, and you can compare your first scan line by line with the paper. The pricing page lists the AI allowance for each plan.