Merging duplicate vendors

Accountable checks your recipients once a day for likely duplicates. You review what it finds and merge the ones that are really one payee.

Open the review

When the check finds possible duplicates, Payments > Recipients shows a banner such as "12 possible duplicate vendors to review." Click Review vendors.

The review shows when the check last ran, under Checked daily.

The review tabs

Groups are sorted into tabs by how they match:

Tab	What it usually means
Same name & email	One owner with a record per unit, or a bank record and a check record. Safe to merge in bulk.
Same name	Likely the same person with a different email. Review each group.
Same bank, different names	Often separate companies under one owner, kept apart for 1099s. Mark them as not duplicates unless they're one payee.

Each tab shows 20 groups per page. Use Previous and Next to move between pages, and search by name, label or email.

Merge one group

1. In the group, choose which recipient to Keep and which to Merge.
2. Click Review merge to see exactly what will change. The review can include an AI read on whether they're the same payee.
3. Click Merge.

If the group isn't a duplicate, click Not duplicates. It won't be flagged again.

Merge many groups at once

1. Tick the groups you want, or use:
   • Select this page for every group on the page.
   • Select all eligible for every group in the tab that can be merged in bulk.
2. Click Merge selected. The count shows how many groups will merge.
3. Confirm with Merge them.

To dismiss several groups at once, select them and click Not duplicates, then Mark as not duplicates.

A bulk merge runs in the background, with progress. You can close the window while it runs. When it finishes, groups that couldn't be merged are listed with the reason.

What a merge does

• The merged recipients' bank accounts and check addresses move to the recipient you keep.
• Past payments stay as they are, and appear in the kept recipient's history.
• The merged names and labels still match the kept recipient, so bills that use an old name still find it.

Open the kept recipient to see Merged recipients: each name and label it had, the payment method that pays it, and when it was merged. The recipient CSV export includes a Merged Names and Labels column.

Merge from a recipient

You can also start from one recipient. Open it and click Merge duplicates at the bottom of the drawer. Pick from Likely duplicates, or search Any other recipient, then click Review merge and Merge.

Payment methods

A recipient's drawer has a Payment Methods section listing each bank account and check address.

• Make default: use this method for bills without a selected method.
• Remove: delete a method.
• Add payment method: add a Bank account (ACH) or Check address. Tick Set as default for bills without a selected method to make it the default.

The first payment method is added when the vendor completes their invite. More can be added after that. See Vendors and onboarding.

Avoid new duplicates

When you add or invite a recipient, Accountable warns you if one already exists with the same bank account, check address, name and email, or name. You can still add them.

Related articles

• Vendors and onboarding
• Importing bills from a file
• Paying bills by ACH or check