Q: What is the best practice for catching duplicate invoices?

A: By using a front end imaging and workflow solution, you can catch duplicate invoices prior to entering your ERP or financial system. This eliminates the inherent risk involved when using the system you make payments out of as the primary catch to stop duplicate invoices. Using your ERP or financial system as a secondary duplicate invoice check is a better practice than using it as the primary method. In a front end imaging and workflow solution, the invoice data is captured upon receipt of the invoice. The system can identify immediately that a duplicate exists and route or decline as needed without ever needing to interface to the ERP or financial system. The most common method to check for duplicates it to adhere to the following conditions:

Invoices can be treated as duplicates if either of the following sets of conditions apply:

(1) Same Invoice Number, and
(2) Same Vendor Number, and

OR

(1) Same Invoice Number, and
(2) Same Amount, and
(3) Same Date

This way you can check for duplicates within the same vendor and across all vendors in case a wrong vendor number was paid inadvertently in the past.

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