Record the discrepancy first
Company A paid, company B appears on the invoice, and colleague C arranged the order. Do not assign the invoice to A just because its account funded the purchase. Record separately what the invoice says, what the payment evidence shows and what you know about the order. None of this yet determines the legal buyer or which company should record the cost.
Make the discrepancy explicit in the purchase record. Your accountant needs to clarify both the document details and the circumstances of paying for another company. Resolving one question may not resolve the other.
Three roles, three sources of evidence
Identify the payer from the payment evidence: whose account or card funded the transaction? Do not turn a cardholder’s name into a company name without further evidence. If the funding party is unclear, state what you need to verify it.
Copy the customer named on the invoice exactly from the original, including any available identifier. Do not replace it with the company you expected. Identify the order arranger from the order or their confirmation, and name that source. Arranging the order alone does not show whom the colleague represented.
Keep these different facts alongside one another. The European Commission’s full VAT invoice overview distinguishes invoice number, customer details and supplied items; simplified invoices have different fields. GOV.UK lists orders and bank statements as different records for limited companies. Here these sources support only the distinction between documents and their information, not accounting treatment or an assessment of your case.
A completed purchase record
This example is entirely fictional: companies A and B, supplier D and colleague C are invented. The order and invoice name B; A’s account funded the payment. The order reference connects all three records but does not resolve the company-name discrepancy.
| Field | Fictional entry |
|---|---|
| Case and supplier | N-17; supplier D; one monitor |
| Invoice | F-204, issued 12 October 2026; original: N-17/faktura-F-204.pdf |
| Customer on invoice | ‘Company B’; no further identifier supplied in this example |
| Order | OBJ-817; confirmation: N-17/objednavka-OBJ-817.pdf; company B named |
| Purchase arranged by | Colleague C; confirmation from C dated 13 October: N-17/potvrzeni-C.txt |
| Payer | Company A according to transaction evidence: N-17/platba-TX-531.pdf |
| Payment | 13 October 2026; 6 000 CZK; transaction TX-531; payment reference ‘OBJ-817’ |
| Connections and discrepancy | Invoice and order confirmation show OBJ-817, as does the payment. Invoice and order name B; money left A’s account. |
| Reported purpose | C says the monitor is for B’s workplace. This is a colleague’s statement, not an accounting conclusion. |
| Missing information and follow-up | The reason A paid is unconfirmed. By 16 October, C will ask the colleague who initiated payment and add their reply. |
| Accountant’s reply | None yet. Add the date, reply and any further evidence requested separately. |
The paths below are fictional file references. Replace them with actual links or attachment names. Mark unknown information as unverified rather than guessing to complete the record.
Copy the left column for your case and replace the right column. Explain the evidence behind every connection. A matching amount or a shared director alone does not confirm that a payment belongs to an invoice.
When the payment has no reference
Change just one detail: payment TX-531 contains neither OBJ-817 nor another link to the invoice. You have only the same amount and a nearby date. Write: ‘Possibly related payment; connection not yet confirmed.’ Do not carry over the confirmed link from the previous version.
Ask the colleague who initiated the payment for evidence or an explanation linking that transaction to the order. Keep the connection open and record who is investigating. You can already send the other verified information to your accountant if you clearly identify the unassigned payment.
Send two separate questions
For the fictional case with confirmed reference OBJ-817, adapt the message below. Replace the facts and level of certainty with those supported by your own evidence.
For case N-17 I attach original invoice F-204, order confirmation OBJ-817, payment evidence TX-531 and colleague C’s message. The invoice and order name company B. Payment left company A’s account; all three records share reference OBJ-817. C arranged the purchase and reports that the monitor is for B’s workplace. We are still checking why A paid. 1. Document details: What else do you need to clarify the difference between payer A and customer B named on the invoice and order? Should we verify the details with the supplier or request a correction, and what evidence should we provide? 2. Funding circumstances: What further information do you need to assess how company A’s payment should be handled in relation to company B? The existing evidence and the unverified reason for payment are recorded separately.
If the payment link is missing, change the message too: instead of claiming a shared reference, explicitly state that the connection between TX-531 and the purchase remains unconfirmed. Your accountant will then avoid answering a question built on an assumption.
Add the reply and keep the originals
Keep the case among unresolved records until you receive the necessary answers. Do not edit the original PDFs. If the supplier issues a corrected document after clarification, keep both files and explain their relationship in the record. Add the accountant’s dated reply separately from the original document details.
The result is a documented discrepancy and a specific query. The record alone does not establish which company should record the cost, whether VAT can be recovered, or whether reimbursement, a loan or another intercompany settlement should follow. Leave those outcomes open for assessment of the actual case.