A technology-backed AP process can provide sophisticated controls over internal and external fraud such as duplicate payments, false billing, fraudulent payments, unapproved vendors, and tampered financial reporting.
Financial teams can eliminate opportunities for such crimes, and with the help of technology, detect and prevent AP fraud, identify anomalies, and establish accountability across multiple layers of the accounting process.
- Verify your vendors: AP and finance professionals can reduce fraud risk by using preventative and detective controls. For example, a risk management software can help track repeated contact information, suspicious addresses, etc.
- Automate approval processes: An automated approval process gives accounting teams better visibility into when invoices and payments were approved and by whom. It also improves control by ensuring invoices are routed to the right approvers at the right stage in the approval workflow. With better control of the approval process, financial leaders can manage risks and financial losses at a broader level.
- Conduct regular, unscheduled audits and digitize audit trails: Auditors benefit from real-time monitoring for accurate data. Organizations can install AP and risk management solutions that can report on AP transactions while creating a digital trail of invoices and payments. This approach provides ready reporting on transactions to satisfy compliance obligations.
- Use artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML)-powered automation software: Advanced software can remove manual controls and minimize human involvement by using AI capabilities to identify any duplicate invoices, extra charges, or suspicious activity, as well as complete regular spend analyses.
- Automate invoice to payment matching: Accounts payable invoice matching is the process of matching vendor invoice, purchase order, and product receipt information. Matching each invoice to a purchase order and receipt will help you prevent paying for fraudulent invoices. By matching you can match orders with receivables accurately, so that you will only pay for what you get.
Automating your accounts payable processes is about maximizing productivity within your AP department. Take the paper out of your AP process using EZ Cloud’s three-part cloud AP Automation system: Capture, Authorize, Pay.
