XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
Country Restriction: the United Kingdom only
Risk Type: Compliance Risk
Business Function: Purchases
Overview
This XBert flags money paid to a supplier whose UK company has been dissolved, struck off, or placed into liquidation according to the Companies House register. Paying a company that no longer legally exists can point to an out-of-date supplier record, a payment that has gone to the wrong place, or a higher risk of fraud, so it is worth checking before the next payment run.
What it does
It looks at the suppliers you have paid and checks each one against the Companies House register. It uses the supplier's VAT or tax number to find the matching registered company, then looks at that company's status and the date it ceased to exist. It compares this to the date you actually paid the supplier, covering both supplier bill payments and money paid straight out of the bank (spend transactions).
How it works
The XBert raises an alert when all of the following are true for a supplier:
The supplier's VAT or tax number matches a Companies House company that is no longer Active or Open (for example Dissolved, In Liquidation, or Closed).
The payment or bank transaction is dated on or after the date the company officially ceased to exist.
The payment or transaction is authorised. Draft, submitted, voided, and deleted records are ignored.
It is deliberately careful to avoid false alarms. It will not raise an alert when the match is only to a closed UK branch of an overseas company (the parent business is still trading), when the matched record is a foreign group company that uses an overseas company type such as SARL, GmbH, BV, or UC (where the global business still trades), or when the supplier's name and the matched company's name share nothing in common (an unreliable VAT-number coincidence). Where a supplier has been paid more than once after the cessation date, the amounts are added together and shown as a single total.
Example/Use Case
Riverside Cafe Ltd pays its cleaning supplier, Brightwell Cleaning Ltd, £3,200 across two invoices in March. What the owner, Sarah, does not realise is that Brightwell Cleaning Ltd was formally dissolved at Companies House in January. Because the VAT number on the supplier record matches the dissolved company, and both payments were dated after the dissolution date, XBert raises an alert showing the £3,200 paid to a cancelled supplier. Sarah checks the supplier on the Companies House register, confirms it really has closed, and finds the money has been going to an old bank account run by a former director. She stops further payments, recovers the funds, and switches to a new, properly registered cleaning supplier.
Accounting software
This XBert is available for UK businesses on the following accounting platforms:
Xero
MYOB
QuickBooks Online
Which countries it supports
The United Kingdom only. It relies on the UK Companies House register, so it does not run for businesses in other countries.
Processes
This alert falls under the Purchases (Accounts Payable) process and focuses on making sure your payments go to legitimate, active suppliers.
To resolve:
Check the supplier's status: Look the company up on the Companies House register to confirm whether it really has been dissolved, struck off, or placed into liquidation.
Confirm you have the right company: Make sure the VAT or tax number on the supplier record belongs to the business you actually trade with, and not a similarly named or out-of-date company.
Review the payments: Identify where the money went and whether the bank account details are still correct and controlled by the genuine supplier.
Take corrective action: If a company really has closed, speak with the supplier about their current trading entity, or with your accountant about recovering funds, reversing the transaction, or adjusting your records. If the company is in fact still active, correct the supplier's details so the alert does not recur.
Prevent it happening again: Verify a supplier's registration and bank details before adding them, and review key suppliers periodically.
Once the issue has been corrected, mark the XBert as resolved.
For more information, see the Companies House register to verify a supplier's status.