XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
Country Restriction: All supported countries
Risk Type: Cash Flow Risk
Business Function: Purchases
Overview
The "Accounts payable process not followed" XBert looks for a supplier who has been paid twice for the same amount: once through a proper bill payment, and again through a separate spend money bank transaction. When the same dollar value goes out to the same supplier outside the normal bills workflow, it can mean a duplicate payment, an overstated expense, and a bill that is still showing as unpaid when it has actually been settled.
What it does
This XBert reviews your supplier payments and your bank transactions side by side. It pairs each supplier payment (a bill payment, overpayment or prepayment) with any separate spend money bank transaction made to that same supplier for the same amount. When it finds a match, it groups the matching transactions by supplier and lets you know, so you can confirm whether the supplier was accidentally paid twice or recorded outside the accounts payable process.
How it works
Across the last 12 months, XBert checks each supplier and raises this XBert only when both of the following are true:
The supplier was paid through the normal process — an approved bill payment, overpayment or prepayment.
There is also a separate, approved spend money bank transaction to that same supplier for the exact same amount, dated on or after that payment.
The amount has to match to the cent, and the supplier has to be the same — so an ordinary, unrelated payment to a supplier you happen to have paid before will not trigger this XBert. To keep the result accurate, XBert deliberately ignores deleted or voided bills, payments and spend money transactions that are not yet approved, and bank transactions that are already linked to an overpayment or prepayment. If a supplier has matching transactions, XBert shows the supplier, the number of matching transactions, the combined value and the date of the most recent payment.
Example/Use Case
A bill for $3,400 was raised and approved for an advertising campaign with ACME Services, and the payment was processed against that bill. A few days later Bob is reconciling the bank account. He sees the $3,400 leave the account, does not realise it relates to the bill already paid, and codes it as a fresh spend money transaction straight to the Advertising expense account. ACME Services has now effectively been paid $3,400 twice in the records: advertising expense is overstated by $3,400, and a phantom payable may be left sitting on the books. XBert spots the matching $3,400 spend money transaction to the same supplier and flags it, so Bob can remove the duplicate and tie the payment back to the original bill.
Accounting software
This XBert runs on Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online.
Which countries it supports
This XBert is available in all supported countries.
Processes
This XBert falls under the Purchases (accounts payable) process and is designed to catch duplicate or out-of-process supplier payments before they distort your accounts. To resolve it:
Open the supplier and compare the bill payment with the matching spend money bank transaction for the same amount.
Confirm whether the supplier was genuinely paid twice, or whether one entry simply duplicates the other.
If it is a duplicate, remove the incorrect spend money transaction and match the bank line to the approved bill instead, so the bill shows as paid and the expense is only recorded once.
If the supplier was genuinely overpaid, arrange a refund or apply the surplus as a credit against a future bill.
Once the records are corrected, mark the XBert as resolved.