Invoice Integrity Bundle

Stop invoice leakage: enforce change order discipline, reduce variance, and hold vendors to documented terms.

Run the OperationBundleBundle1 day to 4 weeks

Disclaimer: Educational only. Align approvals and controls with your finance policies. This is not accounting advice.

Outcome

By the end of this bundle you will:

Estimate the size of leakage from invoice variance (directionally)
Implement a minimum invoice standard that prevents "mystery charges"
Enforce change order discipline for out-of-scope work
Run a monthly root-cause loop so variance trends down over time
Use scorecards and QBRs to make vendors accountable

Who this is for

•Finance/AP teams — processing invoices and managing exceptions
•Procurement/vendor management — responsible for contract compliance
•Ops leaders — responsible for vendor performance and cost control

Time to implement

1 day

Set minimum invoice requirements + run a variance sample

2–4 weeks

Implement change order workflow + monthly RCA + QBR cadence

What you'll need

•60–90 days of invoices for 1–2 priority vendor categories
•Contracts/SOWs for those vendors (even if incomplete)
•A simple tracker to log variance and issues
•A clear decision owner for disputes/escalations

Step-by-step sequence

1Estimate the size of the problem (directional)

Use the Invoice Variance Cost Leak Calculator with:

• invoices/month
• average invoice amount
• typical variance %
• recovery rate (what you actually catch before money is gone)

This gives you a directional annual leakage estimate to justify process change.

Open Invoice Variance Cost Leak Calculator

2Implement "Minimum Invoice Requirements" (non-negotiable)

Before an invoice is eligible for approval, it must include:

• Site / location identifier
• Billing period (start/end) or service dates
• Line-item detail (no vague "misc")
• Unit rates and quantities (or clear basis of charge)
• Contract/SOW reference (or PO if you use them)
• Change Order ID for any out-of-scope work
• Evidence for pass-throughs (receipts, tickets, subcontractor invoices)

Beginner rule: "If we can't explain it, we don't pay it."

3Add change order discipline (stop scope creep)

Create a simple change order rule:

•No additional work billed without an approved Change Order ID.
•Emergency exceptions are allowed only if:

• logged within 48 hours
• documented scope + cost estimate provided
• retroactive approval captured

4Build the variance + root cause loop (monthly)

At minimum, classify variance into:

• Price variance: unit rate differs from contract
• Quantity variance: hours/units differ from expected
• Scope variance: out-of-scope work billed without approval
• Pass-through variance: materials/subcontractors not documented or not approved
• Process variance: missing info, wrong site, wrong dates, duplicates

Monthly, review:

• Top 10 variance events by $
• Top 3 repeat causes
• Fix actions (contract update, vendor training, AP checklist tightening, scope clarification)

5Add vendor accountability (scorecards + QBR)

Add invoice integrity metrics into vendor governance:

• % invoices that meet minimum requirements on first submission
• # change order violations
• average days to resolve disputes
• recurring root causes

Use QBRs to set expectations and improve performance.

6Make it repeatable (embed controls)

Embed in your workflow:

• A required invoice intake checklist
• A variance log
• A change order log
• A monthly review meeting (30 minutes)
• A vendor scorecard cycle (quarterly)

Included assets

Tools (do the math now)

Invoice Variance Cost Leak Calculator

Core resources (how-to)

Invoice and Change Order Leakage System Invoice Variance Root Cause Playbook Vendor Scorecard and QBR Kit Contract Repository Setup Guide COI and Compliance Pack SLA Starter Pack

Templates (copy/paste)

• Minimum invoice requirements checklist
• Invoice review checklist
• Variance log
• Change order log
• Dispute email template
• Monthly RCA agenda

↓ See templates section below

Templates (copy/paste)

1) Minimum Invoice Requirements (policy text)

Minimum Invoice Requirements (Eligibility to Pay)

An invoice must include:
- Vendor legal name
- Site/location
- Service dates or billing period start/end
- Line-item detail with unit rates and quantities (or clear pricing basis)
- Contract/SOW/PO reference
- Change Order ID for any out-of-scope work
- Documentation for pass-throughs (receipts/tickets/subcontractor invoices)

Invoices missing required fields will be returned for correction and are not eligible for approval.

2) Invoice Review Checklist (operational)

Invoice Review Checklist

Identity + scope
- Correct vendor and legal entity
- Correct site and billing period
- Line items match scope/SOW (or approved change order)

Pricing + quantities
- Unit rates match contract
- Quantities/hours are reasonable and supported
- No vague "misc" charges

Change orders + pass-throughs
- Any extra work has Change Order ID
- Pass-throughs have receipts/tickets
- No undocumented subcontractor charges

Decision
- Approve
- Approve partial (undisputed amount only)
- Return for correction
- Reject (with reason)

3) Variance Log

Vendor	Invoice #	Site	Period	Expected $	Actual $	Variance $	Variance %	Root cause	Action	Owner	Status	Evidence link
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

4) Change Order Log

Vendor	CO ID	Site	Request date	Scope summary	Approved $	Emergency? (Y/N)	Evidence link	Status
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

5) Invoice Dispute / Return Email Template

Subject: Invoice requires correction — [Vendor] — Invoice [#]

Hi [Name],
We reviewed Invoice [#] for [site/period]. We can't approve it as submitted due to the following:

Issues:
- [Missing billing period dates / missing line-item detail / rate mismatch / missing CO ID / pass-through documentation missing]
- [Add any specific line items and amounts]

Required next step:
- Please resubmit with the missing information and/or corrected amounts.
- If this includes out-of-scope work, include the approved Change Order ID (or submit a change order request for approval).

Thanks,
[Name]

6) Monthly Variance RCA Agenda (30 minutes)

Monthly Invoice Variance Review (30 min)

1) Top 10 variances by $ (10 min)
2) Root cause clustering (10 min)
   - price / quantity / scope / pass-through / process
3) Fix actions + owners (10 min)
   - contract clarification?
   - vendor retraining?
   - AP checklist change?
   - change order gate tightening?

Outputs:
- Updated variance log
- 3–5 actions with owners + due dates
- Any vendor issues moved into scorecard/QBR

Proof and KPIs

•variance rate trend (%)
•recovery rate trend (% fixed before payment)
•$ net leakage estimate trend (directional)
•% invoices meeting minimum requirements on first pass
•# change order violations per month

Common pitfalls

•Approving invoices "to be nice" (leakage becomes permanent)
•No contract linkage (you can't enforce rates/scope)
•Letting emergency exceptions become normal
•Tracking issues without owners (nothing closes)
•Scorecards without consequences (vendors ignore)

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Change log

v1.0 (2026-01): Latest release