How Invoice Inbox works
Supplier invoices used to be saved into a Drive folder by hand, renamed by hand, coded by hand and retyped into SAGE and the bank by hand. This site does the reading, renaming and remembering. People still make every decision, and money still only moves in the bank.
Sending an invoice in
Two ways, and they end up in the same place:
- Forward the email to
invoices@humanists.uk. Forward it from your own Humanists UK account; the PDF must be attached, not linked. You can forward several at once. Each PDF becomes one invoice here. - Drop the PDF onto the Invoices page while signed in. Use this for invoices that came on paper (scan them first) or by other routes.
You do not need to rename anything, add a code, or write a note. If the same invoice is sent twice, the second copy is noticed and attached to the first rather than creating a duplicate.
Statements, payment reminders, quotes and card receipts are not invoices. If one gets in, mark it Not an invoice and it drops out of everyone’s queue.
What happens when it arrives
Within about fifteen minutes the site reads the PDF and fills in what it can: supplier, invoice number, dates, net, VAT and total, bank details, and what the invoice is for. It also suggests a nominal code and the directorate that owns the spend, using the finance team’s own list of codes.
Every field it fills in carries a confidence. Anything it was not sure about is shown in amber with a one-line reason, so you know what to check. It never invents a value: if a number is not printed, the field stays empty and the invoice waits for a person.
The document is treated as untrusted. If a PDF contains text telling the reader (or a computer) to do something, that text is quoted as a warning and ignored.
Approving
Each directorate has one or more approvers, the budget holders. An invoice goes to the approvers for the directorate it was coded to. Opening it shows the PDF on the left and the fields on the right.
- Check the fields against the PDF. Correct anything wrong and save. Amber fields deserve a look first.
- Choose or confirm the nominal code and directorate. Only expenditure codes from the finance list are offered.
- Click Approve. That means: this spend is legitimate, we received what we are paying for, and this is the right code. Your name and the time are recorded against the exact version you approved.
If something is unclear, Send back with a note. The person who sent it sees the note, answers, and sends it for approval again.
You cannot approve an invoice you sent in yourself. Another approver for your directorate has to. This is deliberate: one person should never be both the requester and the approver of a payment.
If anyone changes a money field, the supplier, the invoice number, the bank details or the code after approval, the approval is removed and it goes back to awaiting approval. Nothing approved can be quietly altered.
Nominal codes and directorates
A nominal code is the four-digit SAGE account a cost is booked to, for example 6532 for funerals training. The code decides which budget the money comes from and which directorate approves it. The list here is a copy of the finance team’s nominal code sheet, refreshed every night, so a new code on the sheet appears here the next morning.
Pick the directorate first, then the line that matches what was bought, not who sold it. A venue for a training day is training; software is ICT. Salary, NI and pension codes are payroll and never apply to an invoice, even for a contractor. If nothing fits, leave it and ask finance rather than stretch a code.
What each status means
| Received, being read | The PDF has arrived and is being read. Nothing to do yet. |
| Needs a human | The PDF could not be read fully, or it is not an invoice. Open it, fill in what is missing or mark it Not an invoice, then send it for approval. |
| Awaiting approval | Ready for the directorate’s approver. |
| Sent back | The approver has a question. The person who sent it answers and re-submits. |
| Approved | Approved and filed to Drive. Waiting for finance. |
| Needs finance | Something only finance can deal with: a credit note, a non-GBP invoice, or a supplier whose bank details have not been verified yet. |
| In payment batch | Finance has put it in a batch sent to the bank for authorisation. |
| Paid | Finance has confirmed the bank payment. |
| Not an invoice | A statement, reminder, quote or duplicate. Out of everyone’s queue. |
What finance does
Finance sees every invoice but does not approve spend; that is the directorate’s job. Finance does three things nobody else can:
- Verify bank details. The first time we pay a supplier, and any time their account changes, finance phones the supplier on a number found independently of the invoice and confirms the account. That check, who made it and when, is recorded against the supplier. Until it is done the invoice cannot be paid, however many people have approved it.
- Build payment batches. Approved, verified, GBP invoices go into a batch, which is exported in the bank’s format and authorised in the bank as now. Exporting a batch is not paying it; finance marks invoices Paid once the bank has done so.
- Clear warnings. A possible duplicate, or a credit note, is finance’s to resolve, with a note.
This site never sends a payment instruction anywhere. The bank is the only place money moves.
Where the file ends up
On approval the PDF is renamed and moved into the finance Drive folder using the convention finance already use:
2026 09 09 AW APPROVED 6532 northgate venues invoice.pdf
That is the date of approval, the approver’s initials, the word APPROVED, the nominal code, and the original file name. You never type this; it is built from the record. While the site is in its trial period, files go into a folder named Invoice Inbox filed (shadow) so finance can compare them with their own filing before switching over.
Who can do what
| Submitter | Anyone with a Humanists UK Google account. Forwards or uploads invoices, follows the ones they sent, answers questions on them. |
| Approver | A budget holder for one directorate. Sees that directorate’s invoices; approves the ones they did not send in themselves. |
| Finance | Sees everything. Verifies bank details, builds batches, marks paid, exports to SAGE. Cannot approve. |
| Admin | Manages people and the mailbox connection. Cannot approve, verify or pay. |
Roles are set by an admin on the Account page. Everyone starts as a submitter.
The red and amber warnings
- Amber field. The site was less than 80% sure of that value. Check it against the PDF.
- Bank details not verified. We have not yet confirmed this supplier’s account with them directly. Approvers can still approve; finance verifies before paying.
- Bank details differ from the verified account. The invoice shows a different account from the one finance verified. This is the most common invoice fraud. Finance re-verifies by phone before anything is paid.
- Possible duplicate. Same supplier and invoice number, or same supplier, total and date, as an earlier invoice. Approval is blocked until finance clears it.
- Text addressed to the reader. The PDF contained instructions aimed at whoever reads it. They were ignored; treat the invoice with care.
When something looks wrong
- An invoice I forwarded is not here. The mailbox is read every fifteen minutes; give it that long. Check the PDF was attached rather than linked, and that you forwarded from your Humanists UK account. Forwards from outside addresses are held for a human.
- The site read a number wrongly. Correct the field and save. Your change is recorded, and the original value stays in the history.
- The right code is not in the list. The list is the finance sheet. Ask finance to add the code there; it appears here the next morning.
- I approved something by mistake. Tell finance. Changing a material field removes the approval, and finance can send it back.
- Anything else. Ask IT.