Procurement Glossary & Terminologies

Definition

Invoice is a document shared by the supplier when a purchase of goods or services is made to the customer as part of the transaction process. Usually, upon acceptance of the purchase, the customer receives an invoice with predetermined payment conditions. While there are a few exceptions, payments must generally be made within 30 to 90 days.

The invoice-to-pay (I2P) process, as seen from the buyer’s perspective, includes everything that takes place between the time the invoice is received and the time it is paid, and it all occurs within the time frame specified by the payment conditions. This is referred to as the invoice-to-cash (I2C) or order-to-cash process from the supplier’s standpoint. Specifically, everything that occurs between the time an invoice is sent and the time a payment is made. We’ll concentrate on the I2P procedure from the buyer’s perspective for the time being.