Supplier onboarding: entity identity, first receipt and booking handoff
An accounts-payable playbook for accurate recipient identity, supplier reference data, first Peppol receipt and a controlled booking handoff.
- Updated
- Content owner
- Accounts payable operations
- For
- Accounts payable teams · Procurement teams · Shared service centres
At a glance
Give each supplier the correct legal recipient identity, agree required references, and prove one receipt before declaring the flow operational.
Before you begin
- Verified legal recipient and Peppol identity
- An owner for supplier master data and invoice triage
- An agreed supplier contact and representative first transaction
What you will achieve
- A supplier pack matched to one legal entity
- A first received document linked to its business reference
- A repeatable exception and booking handoff
On this page
Supplier onboarding is complete when the supplier can address a valid invoice to the right entity and your team can connect the received document to its purchase and accounting record. A supplier marked “active” in a spreadsheet or an email containing a Peppol ID does not prove that flow.
Use this procedure for new suppliers, a new recipient entity or a change of receiving provider. Procurement may own the relationship while accounts payable owns invoice reception; agree that boundary explicitly.
Create one recipient pack per legal entity
The pack should contain legal name, enterprise and VAT identifiers as applicable, exact Peppol participant identity, relevant purchasing reference conventions, invoice-query contact and effective date. Show which entity is the buyer on the purchase order. A group holding's identity is not a shortcut for subsidiaries.
Peppol identifier schemes are published in OpenPeppol's code lists. For Belgian company onboarding, verify the company enterprise identity and the intended 0208 participant address with the registration owner; copy the verified value rather than constructing it from a free-text customer name.
| Deliverable | Owner | Required evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Legal recipient pack | Entity finance owner | Verified identity and effective date |
| Supplier master data | Procurement/master-data owner | Source and change history |
| PO or buyer-reference convention | Procurement and AP | Agreed reference example |
| First receipt and triage | AP operations | Peppol document ID and recipient check |
| Booking and archive link | Accounting | Posting reference and original retrieval |
These are suggested process responsibilities, not additional application roles.
Confirm the supplier's sending setup
Ask the supplier to confirm the legal issuer, intended recipient identity and structured billing capability through its software/provider. Agree a controlled first transaction and the business contact who can correct reference issues. Do not assume that a directory listing alone proves a complete commercial workflow.
Use genuine document facts. If a test invoice is a real issued invoice, decide with finance how it will be booked or corrected. Avoid invented transactions merely to produce a green delivery screenshot. Test environments and production identities must follow the provider's actual procedures.
Record whether the supplier also sends an email PDF copy. Treat that copy as a companion to the same transaction, with matching invoice number and amount; it must not create a second payable item.
Validate the first received document
- Open the Peppol inbound document in the correct company context. Confirm the recipient legal identity before reading the amount.
- Match supplier legal name and identifier to the supplier record. Similar trade names are not sufficient.
- Check invoice number, dates, currency, lines, tax breakdown and totals against the purchase or service evidence.
- Verify the buyer/PO reference needed by your booking process. A technically delivered invoice can still require commercial clarification.
- Retrieve the structured original and available PDF, keeping the product Peppol document ID distinct from the supplier's invoice number.
- Link the document to the accounting posting or the exception case. Name the person responsible for the next action.
The current Peppol area provides an inbox and document viewing/retrieval. Matching, approvals and postings described here should follow your accounting process; do not assume an automatic procurement approval workflow.
Example: one group, two buyers
A cleaning supplier serves a consulting entity and its logistics subsidiary. Procurement sends two recipient packs and asks the supplier to identify the correct buyer for each purchase order. The first consulting invoice arrives addressed correctly with PO CONS-2026-084.
The logistics invoice uses the consulting recipient ID. AP quarantines it, records the intended buyer and contacts the supplier's billing owner. It does not post the cost to consulting and move it later solely because the amount is correct. The correction decision preserves the original receipt and follows accounting guidance.
Handle exceptions without losing ownership
An invoice addressed to the wrong entity goes to the recipient-identity owner and supplier. A missing PO goes to procurement with the actual invoice reference. A disputed price goes to the contract owner. A suspected duplicate requires comparison of supplier identity, invoice number, amount and original file, not merely filename matching.
A supplier unable to deliver needs its provider to verify recipient capability and routing. Preserve lookup time and failure evidence. Do not promise that receiving an emailed PDF satisfies the structured-invoice requirement for a particular transaction; refer that exception to the accounting owner.
Missing or damaged originals go to records/support with the document ID. Keep the case visible until a trustworthy original or documented evidence outcome is obtained.
Accept and maintain the flow
Close onboarding when correct receipt, business-reference matching, booking handoff and archive retrieval are proven. Retain who verified them and where the evidence lives. Handover includes triage contact, duplicate handling, reference conventions and who communicates future identity changes.
Review the supplier pack after mergers, enterprise-identity changes, provider moves or procurement-system changes. Apply migration cutover for a receiving change and month-end reconciliation to prove the incoming population remains complete.