If it feels like the shift to remote working has created new risks for your AP team, you are not alone.
Twenty-five percent of AP leaders surveyed by the Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM) say that the increased risk of payment fraud is the single biggest challenge created by remote working.
It’s been hard for most AP departments to adapt established policies and procedures for processing invoices and paying suppliers to a remote work environment. While some AP departments had business continuity plans in place for short-term disruptions to their operations, few had given serious consideration to how their operations would function long-term in a remote environment.
Manual, paper-based processes weren’t designed with remote workers in mind. Businesses risk big delays in paying suppliers because of the limitations of their manual AP processes. As a result, businesses of all sizes are relying heavily on manual workarounds as their staff work remotely:
While these workarounds may get suppliers paid, they also expose businesses to additional risks.
Not surprisingly, law enforcement agencies are warning of increased risk of payment fraud. Forty percent of AP leaders surveyed by IOFM say their department was the target of multiple fraud attacks in 2021. Another 33 percent of AP departments were targeted once by fraudsters in 2021.
With no telling when, or if, employees will return to the office full-time, AP departments must find ways to improve control, tracking, and visibility over their processes, no matter where staff work.
Here are four ways that AP automation helps businesses mitigate the risk of payment fraud:
This is where a certified JDE consulting expert can help with this automation.
Businesses cannot afford the vulnerabilities created by trying to adapt manual, paper-based invoice approval and supplier payment processes to a remote work environment. AP automation provides the control, tracking, and visibility that AP departments need, no matter where their staff works.