A tolerance with two limbs,
and the one that binds
Enter one invoice line and the tolerance policy as your procedure states it. The tool shows the verdict the percentage test gives next to the verdict the whole clause gives.
Free. No signup, no email, no AI. It runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere or stored.
The clause reads: whichever is lower.
Variance 60.00 against a limit of 65.40: clears.
Variance 60.00 against the lower limb, 50.00: exception, over by 10.00.
The two readings disagree. The percentage test clears a line the policy as written does not. The arithmetic in both boxes is right; only one of them reads the whole clause.
The working
Line value: 30 x 109.00 = 3,270.00 Variance: |111.00 - 109.00| x 30 = 60.00 Percentage limb: 3,270.00 x 2.00 % = 65.40 Absolute limb: 50.00 Whichever is lower: 50.00 Over the binding limit by 10.00.
What it means when the two boxes disagree
A two-limb clause names a percentage of the line and a fixed amount, joined by the words whichever is lower. Applying the percentage alone reads half the clause. On a line where the percentage limb is larger than the fixed one, the fixed amount is the limit, and a variance that clears the percentage is still an exception.
When the two boxes disagree, the arithmetic under each of them is right. That is what makes this the expensive kind of error: nothing in the arithmetic says stop. Only the clause does, and only if it is read whole.
Where this check comes from
The numbers pre-filled here are line PO-8805-10 from the three-way-match fixture: 30 units invoiced at 111.00 against a purchase order at 109.00, on a batch whose policy reads 2.0 percent of line value or 50.00, whichever is lower. The variance of 60.00 clears the 65.40 percentage limb and is over the binding 50.00 by 10.00. In the pack, an agent that clears this line fails the test, and it will have shown correct arithmetic while doing so.
The check is one of the fixtures in The Procurement AI Stack. You do not need the pack to use this page. That is the point of publishing the page.
The agent shows its working. A person signs the exception.
Practitioner guidance, not accounting or legal advice. Tolerance policies, currencies and rounding conventions differ by organisation; this page applies the clause you type to the line you type and nothing else.
The other checks in this family: The same hiring round, at two decimals and at four · The biggest discount that still holds the floor · Re-add the bridge, get the residual · The instructions you pasted, counted against the ones you tested · All free tools