Organisations approaching scanning for accounts payable usually think about equipment first, and the largest improvement available is normally organisational. Three rules, none of which costs anything, improve both extraction quality and elapsed time more reliably than a better scanner or a better engine. They are easy to state and surprisingly often broken.
Scan once, and treat that image as canonical
Documents that are copied, annotated and then scanned exist in several versions, and the one in the system may not be the one somebody wrote on. Scanning first means everybody works from the same document, and annotations become structured notes on the record rather than marks that only exist on one piece of paper.
Scan at arrival, not at processing
The received date is the date the invoice reached the organisation, and payment terms usually run from it. Scanning at arrival makes that date real instead of a guess, and makes the invoice visible to payables immediately rather than after internal post. The paper can then travel at whatever pace suits.
Scan consistently
One resolution, one orientation, both sides where relevant, straight rather than skewed. Consistent input beats a better engine fed a mixture, reliably. Where individuals scan on their own devices, a short written standard plus a capture app that rejects a poor image at the point of capture removes most of the variability.
Questions people ask about scanning invoices for accounts payable
What resolution is right?
High enough that small print and stamps stay legible when zoomed, tested on your worst supplier document rather than chosen from a default.
Should we outsource scanning?
A bureau makes sense at high paper volume or where space and staffing are short. The three rules apply either way.
What do we do with the paper afterwards?
Keep it until you are confident the scan is complete and legible, then follow your retention policy rather than convenience.