XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks
Country Restriction: South Africa only
Risk Type: Compliance Risk
Business Function: Purchases
Overview
The "Bill Raised with a Cancelled Supplier" XBert checks for bills entered against a supplier whose South African business has been cancelled, deregistered, or placed in liquidation on the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) register. It helps you avoid trading with a business that no longer legally exists and keeps your expense and VAT records clean for SARS.
What it does
This XBert looks at the supplier on each of your bills and works out the supplier's South African enterprise number. It then compares that enterprise number with the CIPC register. If the matched business is no longer in an active state, and the bill is dated on or after the date the business was cancelled, XBert raises an alert so you can review it before the bill is paid.
How it works
XBert raises this alert when all of the following are true:
The bill is in a draft, submitted, or approved state. These are bills you can still change. Voided and deleted bills are ignored, so you are warned while you can still act.
XBert can identify the supplier's enterprise number. This is either the number recorded on the supplier's contact in your accounting software, or, where no number has been entered, the most recent enterprise number seen on that supplier's earlier bills.
That enterprise number matches a CIPC record that is no longer active, for example deregistered, dissolved, or in liquidation.
The bill is dated on or after the date the business was cancelled. A bill dated before the cancellation took effect is not flagged, because the supplier was still active at the time.
If XBert cannot confidently match the supplier to a cancelled enterprise number, or the cancellation date is unknown, the alert is not raised. This keeps the alert focused on genuine cases worth your attention.
Example/Use Case
Thandi runs a small catering company in Cape Town. She enters a bill for R6,000 for a new commercial oven from a supplier she has used before. XBert raises a "Bill Raised with a Cancelled Supplier" alert, showing that the supplier's CIPC registration was deregistered three months earlier. Thandi pauses the payment, contacts the supplier, and learns the business has been wound up. Because she caught it before paying, she avoids claiming VAT on an invalid invoice and the difficulty of recovering R6,000 from a business that no longer exists. She updates the bill and arranges to buy from a registered supplier instead.
Accounting software
Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks
Which countries it supports
South Africa only.
Processes
This alert supports accuracy in the Purchases (Accounts Payable) process by highlighting bills raised against a cancelled supplier. To resolve it:
Open the flagged bill and the supplier's contact record.
Check the supplier's enterprise number on the CIPC website to confirm its current status.
If the number was simply entered incorrectly, correct it on the supplier's contact in your accounting software.
If the business really is cancelled, contact the supplier for up-to-date details, or arrange to deal with a registered business instead.
Decide whether to proceed with the bill. If it is no longer valid, amend or remove it, and review any VAT claimed on it.
Once the supplier and bill are correct, mark the XBert as resolved.
Only deal with suppliers that are actively registered unless you fully understand the risks and have taken proper steps to manage them. This protects your business from compliance issues and keeps your records accurate.