Delivery-note reconciliation

Delivery-note reconciliation is the check that what a supplier invoiced you for is what actually came off the truck. It matches three documents line by line — the order you placed, the delivery note signed at the back door, and the invoice that follows — and flags any line where the quantity, the unit or the price disagrees. In fresh produce it is the difference between paying for 40kg and receiving 37kg. Done by hand it is the first thing skipped under pressure; done automatically it happens on every delivery, including the busy ones.

The busiest deliveries are the ones most worth checking, and they are exactly the ones nobody checks. A short crate on a Friday afternoon is signed for, invoiced in full, and paid three weeks later by somebody who was not at the back door.

Substitutions matter as much as shortages. A grade or pack size swapped at the depot arrives looking like the thing you ordered and prices like something else; only a line-level match catches it, because the invoice total will usually still look about right.