XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
Country Restriction: All supported countries
Risk Type: Data Quality Risk
Business Function: Purchases
Overview
This XBert highlights when a direct bank payment (a Spend Money transaction) looks like it could be settling a bill that is already recorded separately in your accounts. When the same supplier, amount and timing line up, it can point to a duplicate payment, a missed bill match, or a manual workaround that leaves your accounts payable looking untidy.
What it does
It scans your reconciled Spend Money (money out) bank transactions and compares each one against your existing bills for the same supplier. It looks for a transaction that closely mirrors a bill, so you can confirm whether the bill has been settled correctly or paid twice.
How it works
XBert raises this XBert when a reconciled Spend Money transaction matches an open or batch-paid bill from the same supplier on all of the following:
The same supplier or contact.
The same total amount.
The same currency (a payment in one currency is never matched to a bill in another).
A transaction date within three days either side of the bill's due date.
The matched bill must be in a Draft, Submitted or Authorised state, or marked Paid through a completed batch payment. To keep matches reliable, XBert only considers simple, single-line bills and single-line Spend Money transactions, and only transactions and bills dated within recent history. If a payment could match more than one bill, it keeps a single match so you are not shown the same payment twice. It also ignores any transaction or bill where the underlying account cannot be confirmed.
Example/Use Case
Mike records an Authorised bill for $2,200 to ACME Supplies, due on 5 April. On 4 April he reconciles the bank feed with a Spend Money entry for $2,200 instead of paying it against the bill, so the bill stays open. Later, a batch payment run picks up the still-open ACME bill and pays it a second time. XBert spots that the Spend Money entry matches the bill on supplier, amount, currency and timing, and flags the likely duplicate so Mike can recover the overpayment.
Accounting software
Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online.
Which countries it supports
All supported countries.
Processes
This XBert sits within the Purchases business area and helps with general accounts cleanup. To resolve it:
Open both records and compare the Spend Money transaction with the matched bill, checking the supplier, amount and dates.
If the Spend Money entry was used in place of paying the bill, remove the Spend Money entry and apply the payment to the bill instead, so the bill is correctly marked as paid.
If the bill has since been paid again (for example through a batch payment), confirm whether the supplier has been paid twice and arrange to recover any overpayment.
Where possible, encourage your team to pay through the bills and payments workflow rather than manual Spend Money entries, for cleaner supplier reconciliation, better cash flow forecasting and tidier reporting.
Once the records are corrected, mark the XBert as resolved.