Duplicate Payments and software - eliminate duplicate payments for good

3/3/23

Duplicate payment software that finds duplicate invoices in-flight and before payment
Duplicate payments are the most common errors the accounts payable department faces. However, with FISCAL’s robust AI-powered fraud detection solution, NXG Forensics, we are able to help customers catch fraud and errors in-flight and before. Within NXG Forensics, one of the many checks that our customers have found valuable is in detecting duplicate invoices.

How do duplicate payments happen?
Duplicate invoices and payments happen when multiple invoices with slightly different attributes (invoice numbers, dates, and sometimes amounts) are submitted for the same goods or services. When not detected, multiple payments are processed contributing to significant amounts of spend leakage. Overpayments – paying duplicate or incorrect invoices – along with fraud together account for between 0.5% and 1.5% of the number of invoices processed, with the cost running into missions in many cases.

Duplicate invoice detection
Detecting duplicate invoices is not as easy as it sounds. If you use traditional approaches, you will miss a lot of duplicates.

The 3-way match is an important baseline control process, but it can’t be relied upon exclusively to prevent fraud, errors, and overpayments. In complex P2P environments, where data is processed in multiple formats, it’s increasingly easy to circumvent 3-way match controls, intentionally or not.

What are the steps to avoid duplicate payments?
Our recommendation to avoid duplicate payments is:

1. Verify the master supplier file and clean it regularly in order to avoid payment mistakes.
2. Double check for printed errors to help prevent double payments being paid.
3. Avoid using more than one source document to gather your information from.
4. Use a fixed invoicing method (ask suppliers to send invoice through one means of communications)
5. Complete the payment order from the original invoice sent to the AP department

Duplicate payment software that pays for itself in 2-3 months

Duplicate payments are just one of the variants of overpayment, but they are very common and you will certainly want to put a stop to them. FISCAL’s Accounts Payable Recovery Audit will tell you where you have lost income in the past – thereby giving you a chance to claw it back. The audit will uncover the vulnerabilities of your system, allowing you to avoid errors in the future that have already cost you money.

Want to find out more about how you can eliminate duplicate payments – and other risks – with FISCAL? 

Sign up for our Accounts Payable Recovery Audit now.

Further learning
Mary S. Schaeffer, a nationally recognised accounts payable expert, is the founder of AP Now, a company that creates business intelligence on all issues impacting the accounts payable department. She is the host of the AP Now Podcast.