How the matching works
Rows are compared inside buckets of identical absolute amounts, so large registers stay fast. Within a bucket two rows match when the vendor names are equal after cleaning (or, if you turn on fuzzy matching, at least the similarity you set) and one of the rules applies. Rows are then merged into groups, and each group shows its strongest rule and the total of everything after the earliest item: the amount that would have been paid or recorded twice.
When to use it
Use it on an accounts payable payment register for the year, on credit card transactions, on expense reports, or on a customer receipts listing to find duplicate application. Ask the client for the full register, not a filtered subset, and reconcile the total to the general ledger before you run the test so the population is complete. A group is a lead; trace each member to its invoice, receiving report and payment, and record the outcome.
Limits
The test finds duplicates in the data you paste. It is not a substitute for control testing over payment approval and three-way match. Recurring charges, such as monthly rent of the same amount to the same landlord, can trigger the day-window rule and need to be cleared. Amounts must match to the cent and in sign, so a payment and its later refund are not paired; test credits separately.
Illustrative figures only. Check the result against your firm's methodology before relying on it.
Common questions
What counts as a duplicate payment?
The same obligation paid or recorded more than once. In the data it shows up as the same vendor, amount and invoice number twice, or the same vendor and amount with a slightly different invoice number, date or vendor spelling. This tool finds the pattern; only the invoice and payment support show whether it is a true duplicate.
What rules does the finder use?
Four, strongest first: same vendor, invoice number and amount; same vendor, amount and date; same vendor and amount within a day window; and same vendor and invoice number with a different amount. Vendor names are cleaned (case, punctuation, Inc and LLC endings) before comparing, and invoice numbers ignore punctuation and leading zeros.
What does fuzzy vendor matching do?
It treats two vendor names as the same when their cleaned text is at least a chosen percentage alike, measured by edit distance. It catches typos and spelling variants (Microsft and Microsoft) but also produces more false positives, so review the groups.
What is not caught?
The same payee set up as two unrelated vendor records, one invoice split into two amounts, payments in different currencies, and duplicates against periods outside the paste. Test for duplicate vendor master records separately, by tax ID, bank account or address.
Where does this fit in the audit?
It is a data analytic that responds to risks of material misstatement from error or fraud in purchasing and disbursements, and a way to look at an entire population rather than a sample under AU-C 330 and AU-C 500. Duplicate payments can also be a sign of control weakness in the procure-to-pay cycle.
Runs in your browser. The figures you type are not sent to CORAA or stored. Check the result against your firm's methodology before relying on it.