Where money hides, and how to find it.

Most accounting systems block a duplicate invoice only when the number matches exactly. But 102/26/1620 and 102-26-1620 are different strings to a computer and the same invoice to your vendor. In our sample audit, five invoices slipped through this way and four were paid twice, worth 0.6% of revenue. The fix is simple: compare invoice numbers after removing spaces, slashes and dashes, and block payment on a match.

When dispatch books a truck and sales raises an invoice, nobody owns the link between the two. Freight that should be charged to the customer gets absorbed instead. Look for invoices where freight cost is above zero and freight billed is zero. Linking every trip to a sales order closes the gap for good.

You paid the supplier, including tax. But if the supplier doesn't file, or files with a different invoice number or amount, your credit can be denied. Matching your books against supplier-filed data every month, not once a year, lets you chase the supplier while they still owe you a payment.

A five percent policy becomes seven for a good customer, then eight for a big order, then the norm. Nobody decides it. Track every discount above policy that has no approver, and the pattern becomes visible within a week.

Industrial tariffs penalise a low power factor and demand above contract. The penalty line is often small enough to ignore, every month. A serviced capacitor panel and a reviewed contract demand usually pay back within months.

Every day a customer pays late, you finance their business at your cost of money. Multiply invoice value by days late and by your interest rate, and late payment becomes the largest leak in many audits, including our sample.