A carrier invoice that is already entered in QuickBooks looks exactly like a new one when it turns up again in the accounts payable pile, and the only thing standing between it and a second payment is someone remembering. Harrowgate 3PL Home Supply, the Mississauga 3PL and the company we use to show ALK at work, now checks every freight invoice against the morning's export of bills already entered in QuickBooks before it checks anything else. This run covers 12 invoices from three carriers.
Step 1 of 8
Start with what's already in QuickBooks
Every morning Harrowgate exports the carrier bills already entered in QuickBooks. The September 30 export lists 7 bills, 3 of them still open, and ALK reads it next to every new freight invoice.
Step 2 of 8
The duplicate rule, in plain words
One sentence: if this invoice number is on that list, answer Yes and name the bill it matches. Only invoices that pass move on to the proof of delivery, rate confirmation and pallet checks.
Step 3 of 8
Twelve invoices, four answers
12 freight invoices from Great Lakes Haulage, TransNorth Freight and Maple Line Transport are read and sorted: 5 approve to pay, 3 dispute, 1 waiting on proof of delivery and 3 duplicates.
Step 4 of 8
Already entered, about to be paid again
Great Lakes Haulage invoice GLH-21103 for $4,698.54 is in this week's pile, but it is already in QuickBooks: bill GLH-21103, dated September 28, same amount, still open. ALK names the bill it matches and flags it as a duplicate.
Step 5 of 8
Three bills kept out of the payment run
GLH-21103, GLH-21121 and TNF-884404, worth $9,884.34 together, sit in Duplicate. Each one matches an open bill already entered in QuickBooks, so none of them goes to approve to pay a second time.
Step 6 of 8
Then, the agreed rate
TransNorth Freight billed a $3,780.00 linehaul on TNF-884422. The rate confirmation agreed $3,480.00. Two more went to dispute: a 38% fuel surcharge against 31% agreed on MLT-5612, and $225.00 of detention on TNF-884410 that the rate confirmation never approved.
Step 7 of 8
No proof of delivery, no payment yet
Maple Line Transport's MLT-5636 packet, $1,924.39, has a bill of lading but no proof of delivery page. It waits in its own stage instead of going to payment.
Step 8 of 8
The decision: approve to pay
5 invoices worth $16,802.42 cleared every check. Each one waits for a person on Harrowgate's AP team to approve or reject it, and nothing is paid before that.
What ALK checks in each freight invoice
- The invoice number against the bills already entered in QuickBooks, from the daily export
- That the packet includes a proof of delivery
- Linehaul, fuel surcharge and extra charges such as detention against the rate confirmation
- Pallets received on the proof of delivery against pallets shipped
- Where each invoice goes next: approve to pay, dispute, waiting on proof of delivery, or duplicate
Try it on your own freight invoices
Send one real freight invoice, or a redacted one, and see what ALK finds.