How to Prevent Duplicate Payments with Dext and QuickBooks Online
Before you pay that bill, check whether you already paid it - because it happens way more often than you think!
Here's how to prevent duplicate payments with Dext, QuickBooks Online and a consistent payment routine.
An invoice arrives by email. A paper copy follows a week later. Both get entered, and both end up on the payment list.
Or a supplier automatically charges your credit card, but someone sees the invoice in their inbox and sends an e-transfer too.
Duplicate payments are common in busy small to medium-sized businesses, usually as a result of human error & system failure. Many companies don't realize their error at all, especially if suppliers aren't honest and pocket your hard earned cash rather than notify you and issue a refund or credit.
In this blog post, you'll learn how to make sure your money is only used once for paying bills. We'll demonstrate how to set up a preventative system using QuickBooks Online and Dext, two apps your business may already be using for accounting.
A few software settings and a clear accounts payable process can help catch these mistakes before money leaves your account.
How duplicate payments happen
Common situations include:
The same invoice is submitted through email, a scanned copy and a receipt processing app.
An automatically paid invoice is also scheduled for manual payment.
A supplier statement is entered as a new bill.
Two people pay the same invoice without checking with each other.
A payment made outside your accounting software is not recorded against the bill.
The same supplier has multiple profiles in your accounting software, splitting their invoices and payment history (common with suppliers who have different operating branches)
Note: There is also a difference between recording a purchase twice and actually paying twice. Both need attention. A duplicate record can overstate expenses or leave a bill looking unpaid, which may lead to a second payment later.
1. Turn on duplicate detection in Dext
If your business is using Dext for receipt and expense capture, this is considered the first-line for catching duplicates, and one of the most effective preventative measures can be easily set up in seconds.
Dext can identify suspected duplicate Cost documents before they reach your accounting software. Here's one quick and easy way to ensure duplicates are caught.
To check your settings as an Admin:
Open Business settings.
Select Extraction.
Scroll to Duplicate items.
Choose Review or Automatic.
Review flags suspected duplicates for comparison. Automatic removes suspected duplicates, which can be found and restored through Submission history.
Review is a useful starting point if you want to check documents before removal. Make sure someone with the appropriate permissions handles these flagged items.
Also check Costs > Suppliers > select a supplier > Duplicate costs items. Set to "Follow system settings". Supplier rules override the account default, so you'll want to ensure this rule is NOT set to Off.
For invoices and credit notes, Dext compares supplier, total and document reference. Receipts use supplier, date, total and document owner. Missing or inconsistent information can prevent detection, so make sure all of these fields are being extracted and entered properly.
These checks apply to Cost documents, not Sales items, and do not confirm whether money has already been sent.
Learn more about Dext duplicate detection guidance.
2. Enable the duplicate bill-number warning in QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online has a warning for bill numbers already used for the same supplier, but it's hidden and many business owners will have only seen this setting when initially setting up their books.
To enable it:
Select the Settings gear.
Open Account and settings.
Select Advanced.
Find Other preferences and select the edit option if needed.
Turn on the warning for a bill number already used for that supplier or vendor.
Select Save, then Done.
The wording may use “supplier” or “vendor,” depending on your version. Bill features also depend on your subscription.
Treat the warning as a prompt to investigate. It is not a universal block on duplicate payments, and you should not assume it checks every transaction arriving through connected apps or imports. It also will not check historical transactions.
For your own entry process, use the invoice number printed on the supplier’s document consistently. Avoid adding different prefixes or replacing it with a date just to get past a warning.
3. Check the supplier’s history before approving payment
Before paying, open the supplier’s transaction history in QuickBooks and compare the invoice with existing bills, expenses and payments.
Check the invoice number, date, amount and remaining balance. Look for payments that may have been recorded separately, along with credits or deposits that need to be considered.
Also check your actual payment channels. A payment may already be scheduled in your bank or payment app but not yet reflected in QuickBooks. For example, Plooto will automatically record payments made into your QuickBooks but it is not instantaneous and often won't be booked until the payment clears your bank.
Keep supplier records consistent. If the same business appears under several slightly different names, it becomes harder to see its complete history. Ask your bookkeeper to review duplicate supplier profiles before combining or changing them. If they are comfirmed duplicate profiles, you can merge them using QuickBooks Online.
4. Record payments against existing bills
Proper procedures are vital when it comes to moving money. Suppose you enter a supplier invoice as a bill in QuickBooks. Later, you pay it by e-transfer, and when you do so you create a new Expense or Cheque in QuickBooks Online.
If this occurs, then it means that payment is being recorded as a separate expense without being linked to the bill. The original bill will still appear unpaid. Someone reviewing the outstanding bills could pay it again.
When a bill already exists, make sure the payment is recorded against that bill using the appropriate bill-payment workflow (like the Pay Bills module in QBO). If another app records and syncs the payment (i.e. Plooto), check that it has completed that job before entering anything manually.
Recording a payment already made and sending a new payment are separate actions. Confirm which action you are taking.
5. Match bank-feed transactions to existing records
When a payment appears in the bank feed, first check whether it relates to a transaction already in your books before adding it as an Expense transaction.
In Bank transactions, select the relevant account and review the downloaded payment. Check suggested matches, or use the option to find another match. Compare the details before confirming Match. Sometimes a bill could have been entered incorrectly (before HST, off by a few pennies, date older than 6 months, etc.) and won't show up as a direct Match right away.
Matching connects the downloaded transaction to the existing record instead of adding another transaction. Read more on Intuit’s bank transaction matching guidance.
If you cannot find the correct match, investigate before adding a new expense. The payment may have been recorded with a different date, amount or account.
We see this commonly if the bill was mark paid from a default bank account but payment came out of another, like a credit card.
This helps prevent duplicate bookkeeping entries. It does not reverse or prevent a second payment that someone sends through the bank.
6. Clearly identify automatically paid suppliers
If you have multiple people handling your payables, it's important that you keep a shared record of suppliers paid through automatic credit card charges or bank withdrawals.
Common examples include telecommunications (i.e. Bell, Rogers), insurance, utilities and subscriptions.
Include the payment method, usual timing and person responsible for checking the charge.
When an invoice arrives from one of these suppliers, confirm whether it is awaiting automatic collection or has already been paid before including it in a manual payment run.
Still retain and record the invoice appropriately. “Automatic payment” tells you how it will be paid, not whether the bookkeeping is complete.
Make the status visible to everyone involved so the owner, administrator and bookkeeper are working from the same information.
7. Use supplier statements to check your records
A supplier statement usually summarizes invoices, credits, payments and an outstanding balance. It may list several invoices already in your books, and show you which ones you may be missing.
Contact your most invoice-heavy suppliers and request to be put on their monthly email or mailing list for statements.
Compare the individual items with your records. Investigate missing invoices, unapplied payments and differences, and request copies of any supporting documents you do not have.
Entering the full statement balance as a new bill can duplicate amounts already recorded. We do not recommend doing this.
If a supplier follows up about an overdue amount, check your payment history before asking them to send it again. The payment may be in transit (especially mailed cheques) or may have already been received by the supplier but hasn't been allocated properly. You're counting on the accuracy of their Accounts Receivable team - which will be subject to human error too!
8. Give bills and receipts one clear route through the business
Choose a central place for incoming bills and receipts, such as a dedicated accounts payable inbox feeding into Dext. This would look like setting up a custom email, such as accountspayable@yourcompanyname.com auto forwarding to your dedicated Dext address. Yes, if you're using Dext you don't have to upload everything manually, just forward via email!
Agree on your team's workflow: who submits documents, who reviews them and who authorizes payment. If a document is already being sent automatically to Dext, avoid routinely submitting it again manually.
Keep a shared payment status that distinguishes awaiting approval, scheduled, paid and failed or cancelled. A scheduled payment has not necessarily cleared, but it should still stop another person from scheduling the same invoice elsewhere.
For larger or unusual payments, a second-person review can provide another opportunity to catch a mistake.
A quick check before every payment run
Before approving payment, ask:
Is this the original invoice, and is it recorded only once?
Do the supplier, invoice number and amount agree?
Has any part already been paid or credited?
Is a payment scheduled through another system?
Will the supplier collect payment automatically?
Has the payment been approved by the right person?
TIP: Reconcile bank and credit card accounts regularly as a follow-up check. If money was actually sent twice, keep both real payments in the records while your bookkeeper helps account for the refund or credit. Deleting a real payment does not recover the money.
Keep your cash where it belongs
Duplicate-payment prevention works best when software checks support a consistent routine. Dext can help catch duplicate documents, QuickBooks can flag repeated bill numbers, and a final payment review can catch situations neither system sees.
At Simcoe Office Solutions Inc., we help business owners keep their bookkeeping organized, review QuickBooks workflows and work through records that need attention.
If you are unsure whether your bills and payments are being recorded consistently, contact Simcoe Office Solutions. We can help you build a more manageable process.
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