XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
Country Restriction: All supported countries
Risk Type: Data Quality Risk
Business Function: Contacts
Overview
The "Duplicate contact" XBert finds when two or more contact records in your accounting system appear to represent the same business or person. Duplicate contacts split a supplier's or customer's history across two cards, which can lead to double entry, missed payments and reports that don't add up. Cleaning them up keeps your contact list tidy and your numbers reliable.
What it does
This XBert scans the contacts you have actually transacted with and compares their names to spot pairs that look like the same entity recorded twice. It uses an exact-name match (after tidying the name) plus a name-similarity score that catches very close names, such as a typo or a spacing variation. It only ever compares contacts of the same type — two customers, or two suppliers — never a customer against a supplier.
How it works
XBert raises this alert when it finds a pair of contacts whose names are either identical or extremely similar, after stripping away differences that don't change who the contact is. To keep the alert accurate and quiet, it deliberately ignores a number of cases:
Same contact type only. A customer and a supplier sharing a name are not flagged — that is normal, especially in MYOB where customers and suppliers are separate cards.
Active contacts only, and only contacts that have income or expense transactions in the last 12 months. Dormant or archived contacts are left alone.
Different registered identity is respected. If both contacts carry a valid (but different) ABN, they are treated as separate legal entities and are not flagged. If only one has a registered ABN and the names aren't identical, they are also treated as different. Where there is no ABN to go on, contacts at clearly different post codes are treated as different premises.
Location and branch differences are ignored. Names that differ only by an Australian state (e.g. "Moore - NSW" vs "Moore - QLD"), a suburb, a branch or bookkeeping code, or a government service unit are not raised as duplicates.
People with similar names are protected. Two different people with alike names (e.g. "Aaron Wittman" vs "Aaron White") are not flagged.
Shared generic words don't count. Two genuinely different businesses that only share a common tail like "Business Services Pty Ltd" (e.g. "T&C Business Services" vs "JC Business Services") are recognised as different and ignored.
Card-feed and import noise is excluded. Names that look like bank or import records — long strings of digits, or repeated card-purchase lines that differ only by a date — are tidied or skipped so they don't read as duplicates.
When a genuine match survives all of these checks, XBert raises the alert and shows you both contacts side by side so you can review and merge them.
Example/Use Case
Priya, a bookkeeper, has two active supplier contacts that she has paid bills to this year:
"Coffs Jetty Designs"
"Coffs Jety Designs"
The second is a typo created when a $1,450 bill was entered in a hurry. Because the names are almost identical, both are the same supplier type, and both have recent transactions, XBert flags them as a likely duplicate. Priya reviews the two cards, confirms they are the same supplier, merges them so all history sits on one contact, and avoids accidentally paying the same supplier twice.
Accounting software
Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online.
Which countries it supports
All supported countries.
Processes
This alert sits under the Contacts business area and supports keeping a clean, accurate contact list. To resolve it:
Review the two contacts XBert has flagged and confirm whether they really are the same business or person.
If they are the same, consolidate them — merge the records where your software supports it, or archive one and move its transactions onto the contact you want to keep.
Make sure all future invoices and bills are allocated to the correct, surviving contact.
If the contacts are genuinely different (for example, two unrelated businesses that share part of a name), no change is needed.
Once you have corrected or confirmed the records, mark the XBert as resolved.