Duplicate expense
The same cost claimed or paid more than once, whether by mistake or on purpose.
In short
- Classic causes: one receipt submitted twice, or a card charge also claimed for reimbursement.
- Matching on receipt number alone misses most duplicates. Amount, date and merchant together catch far more.
- Duplicates are cheapest to stop before payment. Recovering them afterwards is slow.
A duplicate expense is a single cost that ends up in the books, or paid out, twice. It can happen innocently, when an employee photographs a receipt and later submits the paper copy too, or deliberately, when someone claims the same dinner on two reports months apart.
How duplicates get through
- Two formats: an emailed receipt and the printed one for the same purchase.
- Card and claim: a purchase paid on a company card is also submitted for reimbursement as if paid personally.
- Split across reports: the same receipt appears on reports in different months.
- Two approvers: a shared expense is claimed by two colleagues who both attended.
Catching them
An exact match on receipt or invoice number misses most real duplicates, because the two copies often differ slightly or have no number at all. Checks that compare merchant, amount and date within a window, across all reports and all card transactions, catch far more. The same applies in accounts payable, where a pro forma and a final invoice, or a PDF and a mailed copy, create the same risk.
Stopping a duplicate before payment costs a few seconds. Recovering it from an employee or supplier afterwards is slow and awkward.
Worked example
Same dinner, two months
In April, a manager claims a $214.50 client dinner from March 28. In May, the same restaurant, amount and date appear again on a new report, this time from a photo rather than the emailed receipt. A check across all reports for the same merchant, amount and date within 90 days flags it before approval.