Extracting Invoices and Other Documents with AI: How to Start and Succeed

AI-powered invoice and document extraction saves both time and stress. Where accountants once manually re-entered data, artificial intelligence can now read, verify, and post an invoice — accurately, quickly, and without errors.

Published since: 01. 12. 2025

Inspiration

Anyone who has ever processed invoices knows how monotonous the work can be — incoming emails, PDF attachments, manual item checks, matching with purchase orders, and approval cycles that drag on for days. While companies continue to invest in modern ERP systems, the accounting department often remains an “analog island” in the middle of a digital world.

Yet this is exactly where decisions about cash flow, data reliability, and the overall efficiency of the organization are made every day.

Artificial intelligence can now remove most of the manual work from these routine tasks. AI-driven invoice and document extraction brings accuracy, control, and peace of mind to processes that once kept entire teams busy.

Why Invoice Extraction Is a Topic That Can No Longer Be Postponed

Every company operates at its own pace. But accounting follows one rule: invoices won’t wait. Every day of delay means later payments, tighter cash flow, and stress before the month-end close. While sales or production have long been running in digital mode, invoices are still often sent by email, printed, checked manually, and retyped by hand.

Sound familiar? In many companies, the invoice processing workflow is a mix of multiple systems, templates, and spreadsheets. It often works only thanks to the dedication of accountants who “manage it somehow.” But the cost of this improvisation is high: errors, delays, employee overload, and hidden expenses that accumulate month after month.

This is exactly the moment when it makes sense to start considering AI-powered invoice and document extraction. Not because it sounds modern but because every day of manual work is a lost opportunity for both people and data.

How AI-Based Document Extraction Works

Just a few years ago, “automatic extraction” meant little more than software being able to read text from a scanned invoice. Traditional OCR (Optical Character Recognition) converted an image into text — but it didn’t understand it. Accountants still had to go through every field, verify amounts, and correct errors.

Artificial intelligence has moved this world several levels forward. Modern systems no longer just read text — they understand the document. AI can identify the invoice number, variable symbol, VAT, or total amount, even if every supplier uses a completely different structure and format.

The key difference lies in understanding context — AI interprets meaning, not just characters. It can validate data against a purchase order in the ERP system, match delivery notes, flag inconsistencies, and return them clearly for approval. It learns from every correction and becomes more accurate over time.

As a result, routine accounting turns into a smooth and reliable process. An invoice arrives by email, via EDI, or through the European PEPPOL network; AI extracts it, validates it, posts it, and moves it into the approval workflow. And if everything checks out? It passes through the entire process without a single click.

Miroslav Pospíšil

Team Leader Vendor Invoice Management

Key Benefits for Accounting and Finance Teams

Automating invoice processing is no longer just about speed. It’s about control, accuracy, and the peace of mind that comes when the numbers finally make sense. Artificial intelligence is evolving from an assistant to an invisible colleague for accounting teams — reliable, fast, and tireless.

Integration with ERP and DMS as the Key to Success

Invoice extraction automation never works “in a airless void”.

To deliver real results, it must fit seamlessly into the environment your company already operates in — your ERP, document management system, and approval workflows. Only then does extraction become a smooth, touchless process rather than yet another standalone tool that creates more work.

Artificial intelligence is not the goal — it is the enabler. It connects data, processes, and people so they can work together more efficiently than ever before. Through integration with ERP and DMS systems, AI can work with live data, validate purchase order numbers, match line items, check vendors, and automatically trigger approval flows based on internal rules.
While accountants see invoices already approved and posted, the IT team appreciates that everything runs within the existing infrastructure, with no complex integrations or ERP modifications required.

Documents are also securely stored in DMS or ECM solutions such as IBM FileNet, Newgen, OpenText, or TreeINFO, remaining fully searchable at any time, with versioning, history, and a complete audit trail.

There is no single universally suitable solution.

What works for a manufacturing company processing tens of thousands of invoices each month will not suit a smaller service organization handling only a few hundred documents. That’s why it’s essential to choose a technology that respects your infrastructure, volumes, and ways of working.

When designing a solution, we ask simple but critical questions:

What ERP system do you use — SAP (on-premise or SAP Public Cloud), Microsoft Dynamics 365, Business Central, or another platform?
What tech stack and infrastructure do you operate — Microsoft 365, IBM, hybrid cloud, or an on-premise datacenter?
What document volumes do you need to process, and which workflows do you want to automate?
How are your approval processes structured today, and how many people participate in them?
How many users will work with the documents, and what roles and permissions do they have?
What are your requirements for compliance, audit traceability, and data security?

The answers to these questions determine which solution will truly add value and which technologies will fit together most effectively.

Examples of Possible Technology Combinations in Practice

Every company operates within a different IT ecosystem, so it’s essential to choose a technology that fits naturally into your environment without requiring complex changes.

Using an M365 environment or Microsoft Business Central?
Then TreeINFO — a solution developed by Aricoma — fits perfectly into your technology stack, extending Microsoft 365 / SharePoint with intelligent invoice extraction, approval workflows, and document management.

Running SAP — on-premise or SAP Public Cloud?
Then you will typically choose between SAP VIM (Vendor Invoice Management), SAP CIM (Central Invoice Management), or IBM FileNet with Datacap, depending on whether you need to handle only invoice processing or a full DMS/ECM solution for the entire enterprise. The right choice also depends on whether your ERP runs in the cloud or on-premise.

Not tied to a specific tech stack and looking for a modern AI solution that can also support BPM processes?
Then Newgen may be the right fit — an intelligent platform for invoice and document extraction that combines AI, workflows, and process automation in a single solution.

Each of these options has its place — the key is choosing the technology that matches your document volume, infrastructure, and security and compliance requirements.

Invoice and Document Extraction: A Step Toward the Modern Accounting Department

Digitalizing accounting isn’t just about automating a few tasks. It’s a deliberate shift toward processes that are fast, transparent, and fully under control.

AI-powered invoice and document extraction brings confidence that the numbers in your system truly reflect reality, that no invoice gets lost, and that accountants spend their time where they add real value — not on administrative work.
For CFOs, it’s an opportunity to accelerate closing cycles and gain better visibility into cash flow. For accounting teams, it’s a relief. And for company leadership, it’s a clear signal that digitalization starts where it matters most — in the data and processes that keep the business running.

Interested in seeing how invoice extraction would work in your organization?

Every company has different structures, volumes, and systems — which is why we offer a no-obligation consultation to show you how AI could support your specific environment.
We will walk you through integration options with your ERP, potential savings, and real-world insights from projects we have delivered for mid-size and large enterprises.