Anomalous invoice alerts

VAREK watches the purchase-invoice register for you: every new invoice is compared against the same supplier’s and expense category’s historical level. If an invoice clearly deviates from the norm — for example the maintenance company can’t fix a fault itself and an external contractor bills far more than the usual maintenance invoice — the invoice is flagged as anomalous and the board and property manager are notified.

Roles

Anomalies are visible to the same roles as the purchase-invoice register (board and bookkeeper). Notifications go to board members and the property manager; Mark as reviewed is a board/property-manager action, and alert settings are managed by the board admin.

When is an invoice flagged?

Detection is computational and the reasoning is always shown — no AI and no guesswork:

• Supplier level exceeded — the amount exceeds the same supplier’s median level over the past year by more than the alert threshold (default 100%, i.e. double) and the difference is at least the minimum difference (default €200).
• Category level exceeded — when the supplier has too little invoice history, the same expense category’s level is used instead.
• New supplier with a larger-than-usual invoice — a previously unknown supplier bills at least twice the association’s normal invoice level. This rule only activates once the register has enough history (at least 10 invoices over the past year).

A new association’s first invoices are therefore not flagged needlessly — the system learns the normal level from the invoice history.

What happens on an anomaly?

1. The invoice gets an Anomalous marker in the purchase-invoice register (Finances → Purchase invoices & receipts). The list can be filtered by anomalies.
2. Board members and the property manager receive an in-app notification.
3. If enabled in the settings, the same alert also goes out by email and/or SMS.

The invoice details show the reason and the reference level (e.g. “normal level €1,000, this invoice €3,500”). Once the board has reviewed the invoice, mark it handled with Mark as reviewed — the marker and the reviewer remain permanently visible.

If the invoice amount is later corrected back to a normal level, an open anomaly flag is removed automatically. An already-reviewed anomaly is always retained.

Settings

Open Settings → Anomalous invoice alerts (board admin):

• Alerts enabled — on by default; in-app notifications and register markers.
• Alert threshold (%) — how much the normal level may be exceeded before alerting (default 100%).
• Minimum difference (€) — smaller differences are ignored entirely (default €200).
• Email — also email the anomaly to the board and the property manager.
• SMS — also send an SMS to board members and the property manager who have a phone number in their profile.

Email and SMS notifications are off by default — the in-app notification is always sent while alerts are enabled. SMS messages sent by this feature are not charged to the association.