Compare more than the amount
Start with the supplier, invoice reference, date, currency, and line items. Two purchases can have the same total. The same document can also arrive under a different filename.
Open both sources and compare them directly. Look for a corrected invoice, a repeated email attachment, or a genuinely separate purchase before making a decision.
A duplicate warning is a prompt to compare the evidence, not an instruction to delete.
Look at the existing record
Check whether an accounting record already exists and whether the document has been reviewed or sent before. Keep the record identifier or other useful reference with the investigation.
Do not repeatedly send a document because you are unsure about the last attempt. Find out what happened first. Where access or status is unclear, ask the person responsible for the accounting system to confirm.
Make the decision easy to understand
Write a specific note such as “Same supplier PDF received again by email; existing record checked.” Or explain why the documents are different. Avoid a note that simply repeats the warning.
Follow your organisation’s process for retaining, excluding, or removing a duplicate. Keep the source and the decision traceable, especially while a question remains unresolved.
This is a sample editorial guide.
