Duplicate Invoice Detection

Duplicate invoice detection is a specific audit check that identifies when a carrier has submitted the same invoice – or a substantially similar one – more than once. Duplicates happen more often than most shippers realize: a carrier's billing system might re-send an invoice after a timeout, a broker and underlying carrier might both bill for the same load, or a corrected invoice might arrive without the original being voided. Without detection, the shipper pays twice.

Detection logic typically matches on a combination of fields: carrier ID, invoice number, shipment date, origin, destination, and amount. Exact duplicates – same invoice number, same amount – are easy to catch. Near-duplicates are trickier: a carrier might resubmit with a slightly different invoice number or a minor amount adjustment that makes it look like a new charge. Sophisticated detection systems use fuzzy matching across multiple fields to flag these for review.

The financial impact of missed duplicates scales with volume. A shipper processing 500 invoices per month might see a duplicate rate of 1–3% if detection isn't in place. At an average shipment cost of $2,000, that's $10,000 to $30,000 per month in potential overpayments – real money that's difficult to recover once disbursed, since requesting a refund from a carrier is slow and awkward.

Duplicate detection should be an automated, always-on layer in the freight audit process – not something that relies on an AP clerk noticing a familiar-looking invoice number. It's one of the simplest and highest-value checks in freight finance.