Invoice Review

Overview

When supplier invoices arrive by email, Beeswax automatically processes them using AI to extract invoice details and create expenses. As part of this process, the system checks for potential duplicate or matching expenses that already exist in your account.

If a potential match is found, the invoice is flagged for review instead of being silently created. A review panel appears beneath the new expense on the Incoming Expenses page, where you compare it against the suggested existing expenses and decide whether to attach the invoice to one of them or keep them separate.

How It Works

1. A supplier invoice email arrives and is processed by AI
2. The system extracts the invoice number, supplier, amount, and date
3. It searches for existing expenses from the same supplier with similar amounts and dates
4. If potential matches are found, the invoice is flagged as Needs Review
5. You review the matches and choose to Attach to this Expense, Delete this existing Expense, or Dismiss

The Review Panel

The panel sits directly beneath the new AI-created expense in the Incoming Expenses list. Each suggested existing expense shows its number, date, state, supplier, title and amount, with the confidence percentage and the AI's reasoning. Suggestions are ranked by confidence.

Confidence Scoring

The confidence percentage indicates how likely it is that the new invoice matches an existing expense. The score is calculated from several signals:

Amount Match (up to 50 points)

Condition	Points
Exact amount (within 0.1%)	50
Within 2%	40
Within 5%	30
Within 10%	15
Within 20%	5

Date Proximity (up to 30 points)

Condition	Points
Same date	30
1–3 days apart	25
4–7 days apart	20
8–14 days apart	15
15–30 days apart	5

Expense State (up to 20 points)

Condition	Points
Draft expense (likely a preliminary entry)	20
Finalised or sent expense	5

Sole Candidate Bonus (up to 15 points)

If only one matching expense is found from the supplier, an additional 15 points are added. A single match with no ambiguity is a strong signal.

Automatic Exclusions

• Different invoice numbers — If both the incoming invoice and an existing expense have explicit invoice numbers and they differ, the match is excluded entirely. Different invoice numbers from the same supplier are definitively separate invoices.
• Voided expenses — A voided expense is never offered as a match, and an incoming invoice is never attached to one automatically. When you void a wrong expense and the corrected invoice arrives with the same invoice number or amount, it is recorded as a new expense. Draft and paid expenses are still matched.

Confidence Colour Guide

Colour	Range	Meaning
Green	80%+	High confidence match
Yellow	60–79%	Moderate confidence — review carefully
Red	Below 60%	Low confidence — likely different invoices

Actions

Attach to this Expense

Attaches the incoming invoice to the suggested existing expense. The PDF attachments are transferred to the existing expense, any missing invoice number or amount fields are copied across, and the AI-created expense is deleted — or, if it has already been finalised (by the bank feed, say), voided instead, so it keeps its number and line items as the record while leaving your books and the Incoming Expenses list. If the existing expense is still a draft, you are then asked whether to finalise it. The existing expense can be a draft, finalised or already paid. Use this when you're confident the incoming invoice belongs to an existing expense. This action cannot be undone.

Delete this existing Expense

Permanently deletes the suggested existing expense and its line items. The AI-created expense stays in the Incoming Expenses list. Offered for draft expenses only: a finalised expense has posted to your books, so it is voided from its own page rather than deleted from a review (see Expenses). Also not available if the existing expense has time entries recorded against it.

Dismiss (Keep All)

Dismisses the review item without changing either expense. Both the AI-created expense and the existing expense remain untouched. Use this when the match is a false positive — the two expenses are genuinely separate and both should be kept.

Delete Expense

The Delete item in the new expense's actions menu permanently deletes the AI-created expense and its line items, and dismisses the review item. The attached PDF is lost. Use this when the AI created a junk or incorrect expense that you don't want to keep at all. It is offered while the expense is still a draft; once it has been finalised, void it from the expense's own page instead.

Voided Expenses

A voided expense has left your books for good, so a review never uses one. It is not listed when you search for an existing expense, an invoice can't be attached to it, and the review won't delete it or replace it. If you void an expense while a review suggests it, the suggestion disappears, and a review left with no suggestions is dismissed. Draft, finalised and paid expenses can still be attached to.

Auto-Merge (Exact Duplicates)

When an incoming invoice has the exact same invoice number from the same supplier as an existing expense, the system automatically merges them without requiring review. The PDF is attached to the existing expense and no review item is created.

Other Reasons for a Review

Not every review is about duplicates. The AI can also flag the new expense itself when something should be checked against the original document: the extraction confidence was low (for example a blurry photo), the receipt's currency couldn't be converted, or the line items it created don't add up to the invoice total.

• Only notes — the panel is headed Check the new expense and lists what to check. Open the expense, correct anything that's wrong, then click Checked — Dismiss.
• Notes and possible duplicates — the notes appear above the suggested expenses under Also check the new expense. Dismissing the suggestions dismisses the notes too.

The expense row shows a Needs review badge. Hover over it to see whether the review is about duplicates, notes, or both.

Tips

• Check the invoice number first — if both expenses have invoice numbers shown, compare them. Matching numbers are a strong indicator.
• An expense without an invoice number is likely a preliminary entry created before the actual supplier invoice arrived.
• The amount and supplier matching together is the strongest signal, especially when combined with a close date.
• Regularly reviewing flagged items prevents a backlog from building up.