Ghost Vendor Indicators
Vendors whose postings match a fictitious-vendor pattern — new this year, round fees, paid within a day or two, booked and paid by the same user, few invoices — listed where three or more hold.
- General ledger alone
- Compares with last year
How the result is read
A fictitious-vendor scheme leaves a signature in the payables postings: a vendor new this year, round fees with no quantities behind them, paid almost at once, and one person who books the invoice and releases the payment. Each indicator alone is common; the combination is rare. The comparison with the employee master (addresses, bank accounts) needs the vendor master file.
The worksheet, on the demo engagement
Ghost Vendor Indicators, as the application draws it for Harrow Precision Engineering Ltd, the fictional demo engagement — one row per vendor with three or more indicators.
Illustration. A consultancy first invoiced in October, round fees, paid the same day by the user who booked them.
Result grid1 rows
| Vendor | Name | First invoice | Invoices | Invoiced | Median days to pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V9001 | Rivera Consulting LLC | 2025-10-06 | 9 | 137,700.00 | 0 |
In the application
Ghost Vendor Indicators is filed under Purchases & payables, index letter D. "Run all analyses" runs it with every other analysis the ledger can answer. The worksheet states the population it tested on its face — or "Not applicable" with the reason when a column it depends on is empty — and the Excel workbook the engagement exports files it under D, beside an index of the source files with their SHA-256 fingerprints.
Read it with
Run your next audit file test without the Excel crash.
One free engagement to evaluate, valid 60 days. The ledger never leaves the machine.
- 20 minutes
- Runs on a fictional engagement
- No client data required