Example: a familiar supplier’s invoice with someone else’s bank details

Decision card, an example

Signal

An invoice from a regular materials supplier for a usual amount for them, €42,700, with a line: “our bank details have changed”. It was caught by chance: the day before the payment run the supplier’s manager called about something else and said their details had not changed.

Decision

A register of suppliers with checked bank details. Any change is confirmed by a second person, by calling the number already in the register, never one from the email or the invoice. No payment until it is confirmed. The accountant owns it, review in three months.

Action

A register of active suppliers and subcontractors: account, contact, who confirmed it and when. Before every payment run the payments are compared with the register. A mismatch means the payment waits for a call back. Held payments show in the morning brief.

Outcome

In three months bank details changed six times. Five changes were confirmed by a call the same day or the next. One was not confirmed, and that invoice was not paid.

Learning

The rule costs one call per change of bank details. In three months we check whether the check held up any honest payment and how much time it took.

The company is the same in all three examples: a general contractor, fourteen years in business, three sites, about twelve people in the office and about a hundred people from subcontractors’ crews on site, a few million euros a year.

How it was

The company paid on a familiar name. An invoice comes in by email, the supplier is a regular one, the amount is usual, and the administrator puts it up for payment. Nobody compared the bank details with the last ones: why would they, if the supplier is the same.

One day an invoice came from a regular materials supplier for €42,700, a usual amount for them. The email had a line: “Our bank details have changed, please pay to the new account.” It looked like any other email.

It was caught by chance. The day before the payment run the supplier’s manager called about something else, and the accountant asked in passing about the new account. The manager said their details had not changed.

The decision

The owner decided not to look for someone to blame but to close the gap itself. The card says: any change of bank details is confirmed by a second person, by calling the number already in the supplier register. Not the number from the email and not the one on the invoice. No payment until it is confirmed. The accountant owns it, review in three months.

What was done

A register of active suppliers and subcontractors: name, account, contact, and who confirmed it last. Before every payment run the payments are compared with the register. If the details on an invoice do not match, the payment waits until someone has called back. Those payments show in the morning brief, so nobody forgets them.

Three months later

Bank details changed six times. Five changes were confirmed by a call, the same day or the next, and those suppliers were paid on time. One change was not confirmed, and that invoice was not paid.

What I would do in your place

Start with this rule, before any software. It costs one call per change of bank details.

Call only a number you already had. A number from the same email confirms only what the sender of that email wrote.

And ask your bank whether it checks the payee’s name against the account before a transfer. If it does, that is a second check, not a replacement for the first.