PerthBookkeepers.Com.Au

Sounds like a simple and obvious bookkeeping tip: Don’t pay an invoice twice.

Most times you’ve probably paid an invoice twice simply because you are in a hurry, see an overude notice or glance quickly at a statement that you’ve just received, and you panic, right?

Then when you set aside a few minutes to catch up on your bookkeeping, how bad do you feel when you’ve realised that you’ve paid a supplier’s invoice twice?

For professional bookkeeping help or to hire a bookkeeper, contact our Stirling to Warwick, Gwelup to Balga, Inner Northern Perth Suburbs book-keepers today

It’s easy to make some basic bookkeeping errors in the course of your business day. Whether you’re based in Stirling to Warwick, Gwelup to Balga, Inner Northern Perth Suburbs, good bookkeeping is an important part of your business.

9 tips to avoid paying the same invoice twice

Here’s nine tips to ensure that you and / or your bookkeeper never pay the same invoice twice:

1 Always make a payment from an invoice, and not a statement
The statement may not take into account a recent payment that you have made

When you look at the supplier statement and see the total outstanding amount you may get feelings of guilt and pay the whole amount showing on that statement

2. Have your book –keeper keep your accounting up to date.
By entering all payments and invoices regularly into the system before you pay your invoices, you can match the statements and outstanding invoices with your bookkeeping system quickly

3.Set aside a specific day for paying your bills.
You can ask your bookkeeper for a report of outstanding bills, or simply have a folder marked “Bills to pay”
So if you receive a statement, place it in the folder, and on the assigned bill payment day, you can match any outstanding bills with the statement

4. Use Purchase Orders and keep delivery dockets
Often small business owners may get their purchase orders and delivery dockets mixed up. In some cases your supplier may use the invoice as a delivery docket, and then send you another copy of the same invoice when requesting payment.

So, if you are not diligent, you can easily find yourself paying the same invoice twice thinking that they were two separate invoices.

5. Do not make a payment based on a phone call.
In a slower economy, when everybody is chasing payments from everybody else, it’s easy to make a payment based on a phone call from a supplier. Just because they are chasing a payment, it does not mean that a particular invoice is still outstanding

6. No invoice – no payment
Just as we suggest to our business owners that they shouldn’t pay any staff claims for cash reimbursements without a proof of purchase, neither should you make a supplier payment without an invoice in your hand

7. A Delivery Docket is not the same as an invoice
Your supplier may issue a numbered delivery docket with prices included, but it’s not a tax invoice. Ensure that your bookkeeper does not enter the delivery docket as an invoice, as well as entering the invoice relating to the same order. If they can’t find the invoice, then ask the supplier to issue a copy of the invoice

8. Reconcile your bank accounts each month
At the same time you should get a report of suppliers invoices and reconcile them against your suppliers statements
If the two do not balance, then your bookkeeper may have entered an invoice twice. Once you’ve paid your supplier twice, it’s not always so simple to get a refund

9. Enter suppliers invoices into your accounting system
By ensuring your have suppliers invoices entered, you can quickly check for duplicate in voice numbers, which may warn you that you’ve entered an invoice twice

For professional bookkeeping help or to hire a bookkeeper, contact our Stirling to Warwick, Gwelup to Balga, Inner Northern Perth Suburbs book-keepers today