It is not uncommon for companies to make duplicate payments to vendors. While companies can try to reduce this risk through system controls, it is still prevalent and often more difficult to detect.
- Vendors are often set up with more than one vendor number, making it easy for the same invoice to get paid more than once.
- Statements and invoices can look remarkably similar, causing the same amount to be entered more than once.
- Disparate accounts payable processing locations often allows a vendor to be paid for the same invoice from two different locations.
- If the system doesn’t allow a duplicate invoice number, employees may alter the invoice number by adding a “-1” or an “A”, allowing it to be entered again.
- Automated duplicate payment controls typically look for the same invoice number from a vendor occurring in the same year. Transactions around the end of the year can be more susceptible to duplicate payment.
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We can provide you with the information necessary to contact vendors to reclaim your payments along with suggestions for how to improve your controls to prevent or detect duplicate payments in the future. We can also help you develop continuous monitoring procedures to search for potential duplicate payments on regular basis.
If you're interested in these or other ways we can analyze your data and improve your business, please contact us. At Brown Smith Wallace, we Make a Measurable Difference.
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