Have you ever been blindsided by spotting the same receipt being submitted twice? If yes, you are not alone in facing this struggle. According to the Washington State Auditor’s Office, organizations make duplicate payments ranging from 0.8-2% of their total payments due to duplicate invoices and receipts.
For expense management purposes and cashback-focused loyalty programs alike, duplicate receipts can be a real thorn in the side of your business. Therefore, addressing this challenge is crucial for maintaining the financial integrity and operational efficiency of your organization.
The good news is that there are solutions out there to help you. Join us as we explore how to detect duplicate receipts with Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) and create your automated receipt workflow. Let’s dive in!
What are Duplicate Receipts?
Duplicate receipts refer to the submission of the same or multiple copies of a receipt for reimbursement purposes. It can happen due to human error or deliberate attempts at fraud, posing serious financial implications for businesses.
What Is the Impact of Duplicate Receipts?
Duplicate receipts can have far-reaching effects on your business. In this section, we’ll explore some of these consequences and the risks they pose. Let’s take a closer look at the implications.
Financial Discrepancies
Failure to detect duplicate receipts can mean double-counted revenue and distorted financial reports. They may indicate fraudulent expense claims, expense fraud, and the misuse of company funds. This skews and misrepresents the financial standing of your business. Such errors can disrupt decision-making, impacting strategic planning and budgeting.
Operational Inefficiency
The manual checking of submitted receipts for duplicates consumes valuable employee time, diverting attention from core business activities. This not only slows down operational workflows but also hampers the ability of your business to respond promptly to market demands or opportunities. Additionally, failing to effectively manage duplicate receipts can lead to regulatory non-compliance, exposing your business to potential legal consequences.
Loyalty Program Integrity
Unchecked submission of duplicate receipts can undermine the integrity of loyalty programs. Customers exploiting this loophole can unfairly accumulate rewards, leading to financial losses for the business. If the loyalty program offers limited spots for refunds or rewards, real customers might miss out due to such fraudulent activities. Furthermore, fraudsters could use duplicate receipts to claim refunds for goods or services never purchased, directly impacting your business’s finances.
Technologies Used to Detect Duplicate Receipts
Now, it is clear that the risks are too great to rely on manual verification. Not only are these prone to error and human oversight but are also time-consuming and difficult to scale. The good news is that there are many intelligent document processing solutions available that you can implement to protect your business from the dangers of duplicate receipts. Here are these solutions that can help you with duplicate receipt detection.
Text Analysis:
Through Optical Character Recognition (OCR), namely, Receipt OCR, one can convert receipts into editable text, enabling precise analysis of transaction details like amounts, dates, vendors, and items. Natural language processing (NLP) algorithms further enhance this by identifying subtle patterns and improving accuracy.
Image Analysis:
Through AI image processing, duplicate detection solutions can check and process all visual elements on a submitted document like logos and layouts finding any potential discrepancies. Through deep learning, they can even catch duplicate receipts by spotting small visual differences that are difficult for the human eye.
Pattern Recognition:
Pattern recognition allows algorithms to detect recurring patterns in submitted receipts detecting anomalies and deviations. These algorithms can pinpoint duplicate submissions and improve pattern recognition over time.
Now we have laid out how the technology behind duplicate recognition works, let’s dive a little deeper into how we at Klippa can help you in this process.
How to Detect Duplicate Receipts with Klippa
Klippa offers 2 possible ways of detecting duplicate receipts. These are SpendControl, a spend management system, and DocHorizon an AI-powered IDP platform that comes with various document processing solutions.
SpendControl
Klippa SpendControl offers a digital solution for processing, approving, and archiving expense claims and invoices. Here is how the process of detecting duplicate receipts works with SpendControl.
With SpendControl, when a receipt is uploaded, the software sends a warning when 3 of the following fields match those of a previously uploaded receipt:
- Receipt number
- Merchant name
- Purchase date
- Amount
Alternatively, when 2 identical receipts are uploaded to the system, the software automatically sends a flag to the user that a duplicate has been detected. Each uploaded receipt is uploaded and scanned and given a unique identifier in the back end. When the system recognises a repetition of a unique identifier it raises the proverbial red flags. So broken down in steps:
Step 1: Upload a receipt: Take a picture of your receipt using the built-in camera functionality. Alternatively, you can upload a copy of the receipt from an email attachment, image, or PDF.
Step 2: Identifier: The receipt is now stored in the system and given a unique identifier (a hash) think of it like a fingerprint.
Step 3: Data recognition: This receipt is scanned and recognized as a duplicate with the same unique identifier.
Step 4: Duplicate detected: The system sends a warning flag to the user notifying them of a duplicate detected.
DocHorizon
The receipt processing and duplicate detection with DocHorizon requires a few more steps, but it works just as easily. Here it is explained in 5 simple steps.
Step 1: Configuration for duplicate detection: Using the DocHorizon platform, configure the financial document capturing model and your presets to start the duplicate detection process. In this case, you will need to activate all components relevant to the process, especially the hash component to enable duplicate detection.
Step 2: Selecting Your Input Method: This is the first step of the flow, where you need to determine your input method. In this example, we will be using a Google drive from which the receipts can be exported for processing. Other options include:
- Email Parsing: Forward receipts via email, a straightforward method for quick submissions.
- Direct Upload: Submit images or PDFs directly through our platform interface for immediate processing.
- In-App Scanning: Utilize Klippa’s advanced scanning SDK within your application for efficient on-the-go receipt capture.
Step 3: Data extraction: The software extracts relevant data including receipt line items, the receipt number, date of purchase, articles purchased, and more.
Step 4: Duplication Detection: Each submitted receipt is given a unique identifier, think of it as a fingerprint. Klippa’s software can identify what type of document it is, a receipt in this case, and can assign each received receipt a unique identifier, a.k.a. hash. This enables our software to detect if a similar document is submitted again.
Step 5: Data Output: To finish the flow, you can select your final destination. We can forward all data to your preferred software, processing interface, or even Google Drive. We have 50+ integration possibilities. It enables you to receive all the data needed for decision-making.
The Benefits of Klippa’s Duplicate Detection Solutions
Not only is receipt duplicate detection done in a few simple steps, but the benefits it brings to your business over time are undeniable. Some of these include:
- Save time: With automated data entry, you can easily save up to 70% in processing times and eliminate manual input, while saving valuable time.
- Customize your workflow: Tailor your document processing workflows according to your needs with our DocHorizon platform and welcome efficiency into your workflow.
- Safeguard against fraud: With our automated fraud detection, you can defect duplicate receipts early and protect your business from fraud.
- Enhance data accuracy: Eliminate manual data extraction with OCR and ensure accurate data capture and extraction.
- Easy Integration: You can easily integrate Klippa’s solutions with the accounting and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems of your choice. We have 50+ integration possibilities.
- Increase Workforce Efficiency: Leverage automation with smart document processing to free your team from tedious repetitive tasks and increase the overall receipt processing workflow.
Are you curious to find out how Klippa’s duplicate receipt detection can help you? Book a free online demo below or contact one of our experts for more information!