Find duplicate suppliers in Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks by ABN

The same supplier often ends up in the books twice: once under its trading name and once under its legal name, or typed again by someone who didn't find the first record. Searching by name misses these, because the names are different. The ABN is the better key. Group the list by ABN, look at every ABN that appears on more than one record, and decide record by record whether to merge, keep both, or look closer.

1. Export the supplier list

Export your contacts from Xero, your supplier cards from MYOB, or your suppliers from QuickBooks Online, with the name and ABN columns. The Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks guides linked below walk through each export. Include the email, phone and address columns if you can; they help when you compare records later.

2. Group the rows by ABN

ABNs are typed in different ways (51 824 753 556, 51824753556, ABN: 51-824-753-556), so a plain sort won't put them together. Strip everything except the digits first, then sort or count by that column.

Or upload the export to ClearABN's bulk check. Rows that share an ABN are listed together as "Same ABN as another row", naming the other rows and their contact names, on screen, in the PDF and in the audit CSV, which has a "Same ABN group" column you can sort by. Each row still gets its own register result (active or cancelled, GST registration, name match). The first 25 rows are free. If you only have a column of numbers, the free ABN validator also points out a number that appears more than once.

3. What a shared ABN can mean

The same supplier entered twice. This is the most common reason, for example one record under the trading name and one under the company name. These are the records to merge.

Branches, franchises and multiple locations. A business can have several records for good reasons. The WA Office of the Auditor General's better practice guide on supplier master files gives franchised entities that are separately operated, and the same supplier operating from multiple locations, as examples, and suggests flagging records that are expected to share details so they aren't questioned every time.

A record created in error or to divert payments. The same guide says duplicate information can also point to records created in error or for fraudulent purposes, such as a fake supplier record used to submit invoices, or a copy of a real supplier's record with the bank details changed. A shared ABN on its own doesn't tell you which of these it is. Looking at the records does.

4. Compare bank details and contacts before you merge

Put the records side by side: legal name, trading name, BSB and account number, email address, phone number, address, and which record recent bills were paid to. Two records with the same ABN and the same bank details are most likely the same supplier entered twice.

If the bank details are different, find out which account is right before you merge or pay anything. Call the supplier on a number you found yourself, from its website or your own earlier records, not the number on the newer record or on an invoice. Scamwatch's advice on payment redirection scams is to stop and check any change to payee details this way, and the WA OAG guide warns against confirming bank changes with contact details taken from the request or a recent invoice.

Merging moves the transactions onto one record, so decide which record to keep (the one with the confirmed bank details and the right legal name) before you start.

5. Merge the records in your software

Xero (from Xero Central's "Merge contacts" article): in the Contacts menu, select All contacts, tick each contact you want to merge, click Merge, start typing the name of the contact to merge into and select it, then click Merge and Confirm merge. You can also merge two contacts from the Options menu in a contact record. Merged contacts are archived and no transactions are deleted; their transactions move to the contact you keep, and Xero says you can restore a contact you've archived or merged. If you use Xero Projects, a project's contact doesn't update after a merge, so edit the project.

MYOB (from MYOB's "Combining cards" help): go to the Card File command centre and click Cards List, select the primary card (the one to keep), click Combine Cards, choose the card to remove from the "Secondary - Remove all transactions from" list, click Combine Cards, then OK. The primary card's details are kept and the secondary card's transactions and outstanding balances move to it; the secondary card's other details are deleted. MYOB says this can't be undone and suggests taking a backup first. You can't combine employee cards, cards of different types, or into an inactive primary card, and your user role may not allow it.

QuickBooks Online (from Intuit's "Merge duplicate suppliers" article for Australia): go to All apps, select Expenses & Bills, then Suppliers. Select the supplier profile you don't want to keep, open the Edit dropdown and select Merge contacts, choose the supplier to keep from the Into dropdown, then select Merge contacts. Past transactions move to the supplier you keep and the duplicate is marked inactive. Intuit warns that restoring a merged supplier means recreating the profile by hand.

Branches or franchises you've decided to keep separate don't need merging. Add a note on each record saying why they share an ABN, so the next clean-up doesn't start from scratch.

6. A short supplier-list clean-up checklist

Cancelled ABNs: check every ABN against the register and follow up any supplier whose ABN is cancelled before paying its next bill.

GST status: if a supplier charges GST, check that the register shows it registered for GST, on the invoice date for bills you're claiming.

Missing or wrong ABNs: look for blank ABN fields, 9-digit ACNs typed into the ABN field and numbers that fail the ABN check digit. The WA OAG guide lists all of these among the errors it found in supplier records. If a supplier doesn't quote an ABN at all, the no-ABN withholding guide explains when tax has to be withheld from the payment.

Dormant suppliers: the same guide suggests reviewing active supplier records with no payments for a period you choose, and marking them inactive if they're no longer used.

Bank-detail changes: never change a supplier's bank details from an email alone. Confirm by phone on a number you found yourself, and note who you spoke to and when.

Register facts, not advice

ClearABN reports what the Australian Business Register shows and which rows of your file share an ABN. It doesn't see bank details or payment history, and a shared ABN isn't a problem by itself. Whether two records are the same supplier is something only the records, and the supplier, can tell you.

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Official sources

ClearABN shows Australian Business Register facts and the result of an ABN checksum. It does not provide tax, legal or financial advice. Links go to the ATO and the Australian Business Register so you can read their pages yourself.