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Close Clean: A Finance Checklist for Zero-Fire-Drills
The problem
When purchasing lives in a cart, Finance meets reality at month-end.Documents are scattered, invoices don’t match POs, and approvals are buried in email.
The operating model
One dashboard for the entire PO. Role-based approvals. Match status before money moves. Audit-ready by default.
Your 7-step close kit
- Freeze the view
Pull a list of open POs and invoices in one dashboard so AP, Procurement,and Ops are looking at the same record.
- Run 2-way match (PO ↔ invoice)
Confirm price, tax, and terms align before voucher. Variances route back to the requester—no silent overrides.
- Apply 3-way where you capture receiving
If your team records receipts, use 3-way to catch quantity and short-ship issues before AP pays.
- Reorder without rebuild
Use re-order from the last approved PO so price, GL coding, ship-to, andterms carry forward cleanly.
- Centralize documents
Keep packing slips, invoices, labels, tracking, and notes on the PO thread. No chasing files at the 11th hour.
- Budget rails & approvals
License/entity catalogs and role approvals keep surprise spend out ofAP—before it becomes an invoice problem.
- Audit-ready handoff
Share a read-only link for any PO’s full history. Close books without a scavenger hunt.
Is this worth exploring? (60 seconds)
You only need one input for a directional read: either your monthly indirect spend or your location count.
Run it (ungated): https://mainstem.io/roi
It won’t prove savings by itself—but it will tell you if a deeper look is justified.
Bottom line
Marketplaces move carts. Procurement 2.0 moves EBITDA—and closes clean.
