There can be many reasons for human error, from deception to honest mistakes. Many of these mistakes could be caused by confusion from large-scale change including staffing changes, new team structures, mergers or acquisitions. The first step is to reach out to vendors sending copies of invoices and politely ask them to stop.
Order to Cash Solutions
Explain the duplicate payment clearly and reference your supporting documentation. Cross-check the IRS account information with your personal and third-party tax software records. Tax software often retains detailed payment histories, which can clarify how the duplication occurred. Document any inconsistencies between these records and your bank statements for use in resolving the issue. Access your IRS account online for a detailed view of your payment history and outstanding balances. This will help you confirm whether the IRS has recorded multiple payments for the same period.
No Centralized Process for Receiving Invoices
We also provide transaction assurance through our real time duplicate payment solution, DupeDEFENSESM to identify erroneous payments prior to the payment being made. These examples are unique duplicate payments we have identified during a duplicate payments Accounts Payable Audit through our sophisticated process. Once a duplicate payment is verified, taxpayers can either request a refund or apply the overpayment as a credit toward future tax liabilities.
Compliance & risk management
As Mary has stated, duplicate payments tend to happen “in times of change and unrest”. And there has been no bigger example of a time of unprecedented change than our experiences when COVID-19 hit the scene. Across all industries and all companies, employees were sent home and were expected to successfully do their jobs outside of their typical work processes and with limited resources. In the case of payables processes, so many invoices were previously coming in via mail. To work around how to prevent duplicate payments that, companies were suddenly requesting invoices be sent through email. In the event where companies had employees eventually pick up paper invoices from the office, it put companies at risk of paying both the paper invoice and the subsequent email invoice.
Collect standard vendor documents
- By doing so, the likelihood of the same invoice being processed multiple times is significantly reduced.
- You should include a standardized format for entering vendor names and invoice numbers to avoid confusion or errors.
- Use automated flagging tools or reconciliations to identify potential duplicates based on invoice numbers, vendors, or payment amounts.
- Interactive workshops, role-playing exercises, case study discussions, and hands-on system practice all play vital roles in effective learning.
- These individuals can become internal trainers and resources for their colleagues.
- If AP teams pay these fraudsters by mistake, they will still owe the vendor money and will need to make that payment again.
- Automated invoice processing is the cornerstone of Medius’s approach to preventing duplicate payments lies in its robust invoice processing capabilities.
Procurement & AP automation software like Order.co creates maximum visibility in your invoice processing practice. Order.co centralizes and automates Accounting Security processing, making errors and fraud less likely. For example, MineralTree’s invoice capture and coding process has built-in duplicate invoice detection to automatically flag and stop any duplicate invoices. The tool immediately alerts AP managers so they can remove the duplicate invoices before they advance any further. And when it’s time to pay, CoreIntegrator’s solution can automatically make electronic payments by check, ACH or wire transfer. Or why not use virtual credit cards and receive a 1% rebate on every payment you make!?
- Always ensure that the invoices you’re processing are not just authentic but are also routed to the right bank accounts.
- Duplicate bill payment occurs when someone accidentally sends money twice for the same bill or invoice.
- This example underscores the value of having automated checks in place as part of a multi-layered defense against financial errors and fraud.
- With the amount of work accounts payable teams have to get through in a typical day, it’s no wonder that duplicate payments make up at least 1–2% of all payments made by most organizations.
- These tools serve as your first line of defense by automatically identifying invoices that have identical or similar details.
How AP software prevents duplicate payments with invoice matching:
Plus, it’s likely to trigger a wider internal audit to see how many other duplicate payments might have gone out over the past year or more. While it might not happen every day, those duplicate payments can cost your business thousands of dollars if not more. This post explains what you need to know about duplicate payments, including 4 simple tips to help prevent them. Effective communication between departments ensures awareness of payment statuses, reducing the likelihood of duplicate payments due to miscommunication.
How To Resolve Occurrence Of Duplicate Payments?
According to Mary Schaeffer, warning vendors that duplicate copies could create delays in their payments might be enough to adjusting entries stop that practice. In situations where vendors have a history of sending duplicate invoices, create an ACT (Always Check Thoroughly) list. This solution will require that the team hold onto an invoice for a few days as you check against any potential duplicates.