XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
Country Restriction: Canada only
Risk Type: Compliance Risk
Business Function: Sales
Overview
This XBert checks whether you have raised a sales invoice for a customer whose business is no longer active in the Canadian business register. Billing a business that has closed often means the invoice will not be paid, and it can point to out-of-date customer records or a transaction worth a closer look.
What it does
XBert takes the business number recorded for each of your customers and compares it against the official Canadian register. When the register shows that a customer's business has been cancelled or has ceased trading, XBert checks the sales invoices you have raised for that customer to see whether any were dated on or after the day the business closed.
How it works
XBert raises this alert when all of the following are true:
You have a sales invoice for a customer, and that customer is matched to a business in the Canadian register.
The matched register record shows the business is no longer active or open — in other words, it has been cancelled or has ceased trading.
The register records the date the business ceased, and the invoice is dated on or after that date.
The invoice is in a current state — draft, awaiting payment or authorised. Draft invoices are included so you can catch the issue before you finalise them.
To avoid raising the alert unnecessarily, XBert ignores some situations:
Voided or deleted invoices are never flagged.
Invoices dated before the business ceased are not flagged — at that point the customer was still trading.
If the register does not record a clear date of cessation, or the business still shows as active or open, the invoice is not flagged.
XBert can identify the customer's business number either from the number saved on the customer's contact record, or, where no number is saved, from the most recent business number seen for that customer in your history.
Example/Use Case
Priya runs a print supplies wholesaler and regularly invoices a long-standing customer, Maple Ridge Cafe Inc. In April she raised a $4,200 sales invoice to Maple Ridge for a bulk stationery order. What Priya did not know was that Maple Ridge Cafe Inc. had been dissolved and cancelled in the Canadian register back in February. XBert matched the customer to the cancelled register record and flagged the April invoice, because it was dated after the business had ceased. Priya contacted the operator, confirmed the company had wound up, and arranged to bill the new entity the owner had set up instead — avoiding an invoice that would never have been paid against a closed business.
Accounting software
This XBert runs on Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online.
Which countries it supports
This XBert is available for Canada only. It relies on the Canadian business register, so it does not apply to organisations in other countries.
Processes
Business area: Sales (Accounts Receivable). To resolve this XBert:
Open the flagged invoice and confirm which customer it is raised against.
Check the customer's status in the Canadian business register to confirm whether the business has genuinely been cancelled or has ceased trading.
If the business has closed, contact the customer to find out whether you should be billing a different, currently registered entity instead.
Reissue or redirect the invoice to the correct, active entity where appropriate, and update the customer's contact record with the correct business number.
If the invoice was raised in error, void or credit it in line with your usual process.
If the alert was raised because of an out-of-date business number on the contact, correct the number so future invoices match the right business.
Once the invoice has been corrected or confirmed, mark the XBert as resolved.