Editing Accounts payable (section)

==Internal controls==
A variety of checks against abuse are usually present to prevent [[embezzlement]] by accounts payable personnel. [[Separation of duties]] is a common control. In countries where cheques payment are common nearly all companies have a junior employee process and print a cheque and a senior employee review and sign the cheque. Often, the accounting software will limit each employee to performing only the functions assigned to them, so that there is no way any one employee &ndash; even the [[comptroller|controller]] &ndash; can singlehandedly make a payment.

Some companies also separate the functions of adding new vendors to the master vendor file and entering vouchers. This makes it impossible for an employee to add themselves as a vendor and then write a cheque to themselves without colluding with another employee. The master vendor file is the repository of all significant information about the company's suppliers. It is the reference point for accounts payable when it comes to paying invoices.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Schaeffer
| first = Mary S.
| title = Accounts Payable & Sarbanes Oxley: Strengthening Your Internal Controls
| publisher = [[John Wiley & Sons]]
| year = 2006
| isbn = 0-471-78588-1 }}
</ref>

In addition, most companies require a second signature on cheques whose amount exceeds a specified threshold.

Accounts payable personnel must watch for fraudulent invoices. In the absence of a [[purchase order]] system, the first line of defense is the approving manager. However, AP staff should become familiar with a few common problems, such as "[[Yellow Pages]]" [[ripoff]]s in which fraudulent operators offer to place an advertisement. The walking-fingers logo has never been trademarked, and there are many different Yellow Pages-style directories, most of which have a small distribution. According to an article in the Winter 2000 [[American Payroll Association]]'s ''Employer Practices'', "Vendors may send documents that look like invoices but in small print they state "this is not a bill". These may be charges for directory listings or advertisements. Recently, some companies have begun sending what appears to be a rebate or refund check; in reality, it is a registration for services that is activated when the document is returned with a signature."

In accounts payable, a simple mistake can cause a large overpayment. A common example involves duplicate invoices.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bragg |first=Steven |date=2023-09-02 |title=Duplicate payment definition |url=https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/duplicate-payment |access-date=2023-11-26 |website=AccountingTools |language=en-US}}</ref> An invoice may be temporarily misplaced or still in the approval status when the vendors calls to inquire into its payment status. After the AP staff member looks it up and finds it has not been paid, the vendor sends a duplicate invoice; meanwhile the original invoice shows up and gets paid. Then the duplicate invoice arrives and inadvertently gets paid as well, perhaps under a slightly different invoice.