When you request Auto Payment from a client on Forwardly, that authorization is tied to a specific client record on Forwardly. If you've connected accounting software, then it's also connected to a specific client record in your accounting software. When an Auto Payment is approved, that approval applies only to invoices created for that exact same client record.
If a duplicate client record exists in your accounting software and an invoice is created under the duplicate client business, Forwardly treats it as a completely different client. Because there is no Auto Payment approval attached to that record, the payment won’t be scheduled.
Common causes of duplicate accounting records
- Clients are added manually instead of being selected from existing records
- Slight name differences (for example, “ABC LLC” vs “ABC, LLC”)
- Clients created by multiple users
How do I fix issues with duplicate client records in my accounting software?
In the short term, if your invoice didn't attach to the right client, then go into your accounting software and try changing it to the correct client record. Go back to Forwardly, re-sync, and find the invoice. If it's connected to the right client now, then you can automatically schedule the payment. If you need help with this, don't hesitate to reach out to our team.
In the long term, you will need to tidy up your accounting data. If your accounting data going in isn’t clean, then our automation can’t work predictably. Luckily, it's an easy fix: Merge or remove duplicate records to ensure each client has only one record. Some platforms, including QuickBooks Online, offer a duplicate client report to help speed up this process.
- Merge Duplicates on QuickBooks Online
- Merge Contacts on Xero
- Remove Duplicates Client Profiles on FreshBooks
- Merge Duplicates on Zoho Books
After you clean up duplicate client records
Once you have resolved your duplicate client records:
- Confirm the Auto Payment approval is attached to the correct client record
- Create invoices using the correct client record
- Future Auto Payments should schedule normally
If Auto Payments still don’t trigger after cleanup, please contact Forwardly Support, and we will help review your setup.