Epicor Logged AP Invoices vs AP Invoice Entry: Which to Automate
Epicor Kinetic gives supplier invoices two places to land: Logged AP Invoice Entry and AP Invoice Entry. What each does, how the suspense account works, and how AP automation can use either.
Gonzalo Nuñez
Chief Technology Officer
Epicor Kinetic gives a supplier invoice two places to land. Logged AP Invoice Entry records the invoice when it arrives, for tracking and approval, and can book it to a suspense account before anyone has matched it. AP Invoice Entry is where the invoice is matched to the purchase order and its receipts and becomes a payable. AP automation can target either. Logging first gives early visibility and an approval step inside Epicor. Matching first, and reviewing before anything is written, removes the second pass of keying and checking.
What Logged AP Invoice Entry does
A logged invoice records that a supplier invoice exists: the supplier, invoice number, date and amounts. How it affects the general ledger depends on the company's logged invoice accounting setting:
- Authorization tracking. The logged invoice is not posted. It is a record for tracking and approval, and the accounting happens when the AP invoice is created.
- Account for taxes. Payables and tax are booked when the logged invoice is posted, and the net amount goes to a logged invoice suspense account until the invoice is converted to an AP invoice.
- Book all to suspense. The invoice and tax amounts go to the suspense account until the logged invoice is voided or converted.
Logged invoices can be created already approved, or require a person to approve them; auto-approval is not available under authorization tracking. When the full invoice is later entered in AP Invoice Entry, it is matched to the logged invoice, and Epicor can require the amounts to agree or let them be overridden, in which case the logged invoice is voided.
Teams use logged invoices to see liabilities early, to route invoices for approval before anyone matches them, and to catch an invoice that has arrived twice.
What AP Invoice Entry does
AP Invoice Entry is where the invoice is built in full, inside an invoice group: header, lines against purchase order releases and receipts (through Get Receipts), miscellaneous charges, tax and any variances. When the group is posted, the payable, inventory and variance entries reach the general ledger. Two-way matching compares the invoice with the purchase order; three-way matching adds the receipt, so you only pay for what arrived.
Two ways to automate it
Log first, then match
The tool reads the supplier invoice and creates a logged invoice. A person approves it in Epicor. The tool then builds the AP invoice by running Get Receipts against the receipts, and a person posts the group. Lowki describes its AP automation, in early access as of October 2026, this way.
This suits companies already using logged invoices for approval and accruals. The invoice is touched twice in Epicor, and differences between invoice and receipt appear as a group balance that someone has to investigate.
Match first, then review
The tool reads the invoice, resolves the supplier, the purchase order and the receipts behind it against live Epicor data, and compares each line: quantity against what is left to bill, unit price against the order, freight against what has already been billed. The result is a draft with every difference shown on its line, reviewed and approved before anything is written. Only then is the invoice created in AP Invoice Entry, where your team posts it as usual. Fluent works this way, in production.
This suits teams whose bottleneck is matching. The approval happens on a draft that already shows the match, so the reviewer decides on differences instead of rebuilding the invoice.
Comparison
| Log first, then match | Match first, then review | |
|---|---|---|
| First thing written to Epicor | A logged invoice | The AP invoice, after approval |
| When matching happens | After the logged invoice is approved | Before review, on the draft |
| How differences are shown | A group balance in AP Invoice Entry | On each line of the draft |
| Approval | Logged invoice approval in Epicor | Approval stages in the review queue |
| Liability visible early | Yes, if logged invoices post to suspense | When the invoice is created |
| Who posts | A person posts the group | A person posts the group |
| Example | Lowki (early access) | Fluent (in production) |
Which fits
- You already run logged invoices for approval or accruals: a log-first tool keeps that process and adds reading.
- Matching is where the hours go: a match-first tool removes the step that takes the time.
- Invoices often differ from receipts: you want differences listed on the line, so the reviewer sees which receipt, which quantity and which price.
- Freight and miscellaneous charges get billed twice: check that the tool compares charges against what has already been invoiced.
- You want AP and sales orders from one vendor: check that each is in production today.
Automate AP Invoice Entry with Fluent
Fluent reads supplier invoices as PDFs, scans, photos, spreadsheets, XML or EDI, matches every line two-way or three-way against the purchase order and its receipts, and drafts the invoice in AP Invoice Entry for a person to approve. See AP automation, three-way matching, how to automate Epicor AP Invoice Entry, or book a demo with a batch of your own invoices.
Frequently Asked Questions
It records a supplier invoice when it arrives, before the full AP invoice is entered and matched. Depending on the company's setup, a logged invoice is a tracking record or is posted to a logged invoice suspense account, and it can require approval.
It holds the amount of a logged invoice until the invoice is converted to an AP invoice or voided. Under the account-for-taxes option only the net amount goes there; under the book-all-to-suspense option the invoice and tax amounts do.
Yes, if the company is set to create logged invoices already approved. This is not available when logged invoices are used only for authorization tracking.
A logged invoice records that the invoice exists, for approval and early visibility. The AP invoice, entered in AP Invoice Entry, is matched to the purchase order and receipts and becomes the payable when its group is posted.
Yes. Fluent reads the supplier invoice, matches each line against the purchase order and its receipts, shows every difference on the line, and drafts the invoice in AP Invoice Entry once a person approves it.
Lowki describes AP invoice automation as early access as of October 2026: it logs invoices in Logged AP Invoice Entry, a person approves them, it matches them with Get Receipts, and a person posts the group. Fluent's AP agent is in production.
