Exact invoice-number matching catches obvious repeats. Freight vendors who reissue a bill after a rate dispute sometimes change the suffix, the description line, or the date by one day. Exact checks stay quiet.
Signals we use in recovery reviews
- Same vendor, amount within a small tolerance, dates within two weeks
- Description sharing a shipment reference or container number
- Second invoice posted after a credit note that never fully offset the first
None of these signals alone prove a duplicate. Together they earn a manual look.
Why AP misses them
Clerks trust the vendor’s statement that the first invoice was “cancelled.” Without a credit note in the file, the original payment may still stand. Asking for the credit note before paying the replacement bill is the cheapest control.
After you find a candidate
Send the vendor both invoice images and ask which document remains payable. Keep treasury copied so recovered amounts re-enter the cash forecast.
Duplicate Payment Recovery Reviews exist for periods where volume makes manual scanning unrealistic. For a quiet month, the signals above are enough for an AP lead to spot-check.