How do you prevent duplicate invoice payments?
Duplicate payments happen when the same supplier invoice is entered, approved, and paid more than once — usually because it arrived through two channels or was re-sent after a delay. The defence is three checks: match the invoice number against existing records before entry, flag invoices with the same amount and supplier but different numbers, and reconcile bank payments against open payables before each batch.
The most common duplicate is not fraud — it is a supplier emailing an invoice, not seeing payment by the expected date, and re-sending it. A tired clerk enters it again. The prevention is mechanical: every invoice number is checked against previously filed ones, and if a number matches — or if the same supplier sends an invoice for the same amount within a short window — it is flagged for your review instead of being entered. Nika does this on every invoice, from $0.40 per processed invoice.
The second layer is payment-side: before approving a payment batch, reconcile it against open payables so you are not paying an invoice that was already settled. This is your accountant’s or bookkeeper’s job — the AI handles the entry and the duplicate-number flag, but the final payment decision is always human. The why page documents the hard rules: never send money, never delete anything.
Related questions
How common are duplicate invoice payments?
Industry studies estimate that 0.5% to 2% of supplier invoices are paid twice in organisations without duplicate detection. The cost compounds with volume — a business processing 1,000 invoices a year can lose the price of 5 to 20 invoices to duplicates alone.
Can AI detect duplicate invoices?
Yes. The AI employee checks every incoming invoice number against previously filed records. A matching number, or a same-supplier same-amount invoice within a short window, is flagged to you instead of being entered — preventing the duplicate at the source.