Two-way matching is an accounts payable check in which a supplier's invoice is compared with the purchase order before it is approved for payment. The comparison covers the supplier, the items, the quantities and the unit prices, usually within small tolerances. If the invoice agrees with the order it is released for payment; if not, it is held for review.
The method confirms that the company is being charged for what it ordered at the agreed price, but not that the goods or services were actually delivered. That further check, against a goods receipt, is added in three-way matching. Two-way matching is therefore used mainly where a receipt is impractical or unnecessary: services, subscriptions, software licences and low-value purchases. It is quicker and cheaper to operate, at the cost of weaker protection against billing for undelivered goods. Both are forms of invoice matching.