XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero
Country Restriction: Australia only
Risk Type: Payroll Risk
Business Function: Payroll
Overview
The "Employee Bank Accounts Same" XBert checks whether two active employees have been set up with the same bank account in your payroll system. This can be a simple data entry slip, and if it goes unnoticed it can mean an employee is paid into the wrong account.
What it does
This XBert reviews the bank accounts recorded for your active employees and looks for any account that is shared by more than one person. When it finds a shared account, it compares the employees' details to decide whether the match looks like an error or a genuine shared account.
For each shared account it checks that the employees:
Are different people (different employee records), and
Have different surnames, and
Do not both appear by surname on the account holder name.
Before comparing, it tidies the account details so that small formatting differences (extra spaces, dashes or full stops in the BSB or account number) do not hide a genuine match.
How it works
After each data sync, XBert gathers the bank accounts of your active employees and finds any account used by two or more of them. It then raises an alert only when the two employees are different people, have different surnames, and the account holder name does not contain both of their surnames.
It deliberately stays quiet in the cases that usually mean the shared account is legitimate. For example, if both employees share the same surname, or if the account is held in a name that includes both of their surnames (such as a joint account for a couple), no alert is raised. Inactive or archived employees are not included in the check, and the account number shown in the alert is partly masked for privacy.
Example/Use Case
Billy and Sally both start at ACME Industries. The payroll administrator, John, enters Billy's bank details correctly. When he sets up Sally's record, he accidentally pastes Billy's account number instead of Sally's, so $2,450 of Sally's first pay lands in Billy's account.
A few weeks later Sally notices she has not been paid. The error is traced back to the shared account, and payroll has to be adjusted and the payment recovered manually. Had this XBert been reviewed at the time, the mismatch would have been caught before any money moved.
By contrast, John and his wife Sue both work at Norco Bikes and are paid into the same joint account held as "J & S Smith". Because both surnames appear on the account, XBert recognises this as a genuine shared account and does not raise an alert.
Accounting software
This XBert runs on Xero.
Which countries it supports
Australia only.
Processes
This XBert is part of the Payroll business area.
To resolve it:
Open both employee records and confirm the bank account details recorded against each one.
Check with the employees, or against their supplied bank details, to confirm which account is correct.
If an account was entered against the wrong person, update that employee's record with their correct BSB and account number, then check whether any past pay needs to be recovered or re-paid.
If the shared account is genuine (for example, a couple sharing a joint account), no change is needed.
Once you have confirmed or corrected the details, mark the XBert as resolved.
Reviewing shared bank accounts helps prevent misdirected pay and makes sure every employee is paid into their own account on time.