XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
Country Restriction: All supported countries
Risk Type: Fraud Risk
Business Function: Purchases
Overview
This XBert looks for two bills from the same supplier that appear to be the same invoice entered twice. It is designed to catch a bill that has been resubmitted with a slightly changed invoice number, so it slips past the usual exact-match duplicate checks. Paying the same invoice twice means money leaving your business that you can never get back, so catching it early protects your cash and reduces the risk of an overpayment or supplier fraud.
What it does
XBert reviews the bills you have entered against each supplier over a recent trailing period. For each supplier, it compares the invoice numbers and the bill amounts to find pairs that look like the same bill recorded more than once. It pays particular attention to invoice numbers that are really the same once small formatting differences are ignored.
How it works
XBert raises this alert when, for the one supplier, it finds two bills within about a 30-day window where the invoice number is effectively identical and the amounts are within roughly 3% of each other. Effectively identical means the numbers match once spacing and punctuation are removed, so INV-1024 and INV1024 are treated as the same reference.
To keep the alert meaningful, XBert deliberately ignores several situations:
Bills that are voided, deleted, in draft or rejected, because a cancelled bill is not a real second payment.
Very small bills (under one dollar), which are immaterial adjustments rather than a duplicate-payment risk.
Regular monthly standing orders, such as a subscription, lease or cleaning contract billed at the same amount each month, where three or more bills repeat at a roughly monthly spacing. A genuine same-week double-up of a recurring bill will still be flagged.
Invoice references that are really generic product or description codes carrying many different amounts, rather than a unique invoice number.
Example/Use Case
Priya runs accounts payable for a busy cafe group. In early March she enters a supplier invoice numbered INV-2087 from Riverside Produce for $1,940.00 and pays it. Three weeks later the same invoice arrives again by email, this time keyed in as INV2087 for $1,940.00, and is queued for payment. Because the two invoice numbers match once the dash is ignored and the amounts are the same, XBert flags the pair as a possible duplicate bill. Priya checks the supplier statement, confirms the original was already paid, deletes the second bill before the payment run, and avoids a $1,940 overpayment.
Accounting software
This XBert runs on Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online.
Which countries it supports
This XBert is available in all supported countries.
Processes
Business area: Purchases (Accounts Payable). To resolve this XBert, work through the following steps:
Open both bills XBert has identified and compare the supplier, invoice number, date and amount.
Check the supplier statement or your payment records to see whether the invoice has already been paid.
If the second bill is a genuine duplicate, delete or void it so it is not paid again. If it has already been paid twice, contact the supplier to arrange a refund or a credit against your next bill.
If the two bills are in fact separate, legitimate charges that happen to share a number and amount, no change is needed.
If this supplier regularly bills the same amount and the alert is not useful, consider treating it as a recurring standing order so future routine bills are recognised.
Once you have corrected the records, mark the XBert as resolved.