In a busy accounts department, the number of suppliers on a master supplier database tends to increase between 10-20% per annum.  Therefore, if you have a large database you could be in the position of adding several new accounts every week.   If you add to that the knowledge that 1 in 500 supplier accounts is likely to be a duplicate, or has an inadvertent accounting error on it - what can seem a harmless blip in the system can actually develop into something with which could be potentially disastrous.  In addition, this creates inefficiencies in the accounts payable process and when duplicate payments result - which they do - the costs run into several thousand pounds annually. 

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Duplicate Payment Management

Duplicate payments occur in about 1 in 1000 payments as stated by the Institute of Internal Auditors and if your organisation makes £50 million in annual invoice payments you are likely to be paying out £50,000 or more in duplicate payments per year.
There are over 30 reasons why they happen including supplier errors & fraud, typo mistakes, mis-communication, over enthusiastic credit control or factoring companies, holes in the AP process etc.  The fact is they happen and you need a multi layered strategy for true prevention. This can include a combination of the following solutions:

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Electronic Invoicing

Paper Invoices Consigned to History

Many accounts payable departments still operate with vast quantities of paper, however the evidence below shows that this is rapidly becoming a thing of the past:

• During 2007 the Swedish rates of e-invoicing usage were 81% higher than in 2006
• Over half of UK companies now have fully automated systems
• Bo Harald – Chair of the European Commission Expert Group on e-invoicing says that many countries are looking to move to “e-invoice, or no invoice”.

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