Do not overlook the risks inherent in bringing in new vendors to your organization. The level of risk varies in degree according to types, amounts and consequence of products or services. But even office supply vendors should be validated, as victims of printer-toner scams can attest. Supply chain and corporate procurement researcher Jonathan Webb, in an…
If you are mystified by your company’s compliance responsibilities related to sanctions, there is help. In 2019 the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published new guidance on how to create a framework for an effective sanctions-compliance program. It can help you comply. And if you should inadvertently run afoul of the…
An Association of Financial Professionals (AFP) survey on payment fraud shows 80 percent of organizations experienced attempted or actual payment fraud in 2022. Payment fraud remains at that high level, having jumped up in 2015 to 73 percent of organizations and subsequently rising further. What are the targets? Checks are targeted at 75 percent of…
Procure-to-pay—also called purchase-to-pay or source-to-settle—refers to the entire process of procuring goods and services from start to finish. The process begins with identification of need and continues through final settlement. To maximize effectiveness and efficiency, organizations must take a holistic view of the entire process. The end-to-end process cuts across organizations’ departmental structures. Traditionally the…
Vendor information management specialists have heard it before. Strong passwords are vital to security. Their value cannot be overstated. Passwords are gatekeepers to our online identities, financial information, and processes, and they are the first defense against cyber threats. Understanding how to create a robust password is essential for anyone navigating the internet. Yet, cybersecurity…
Bank account verification is a crucial security measure for any organization engaging in business-to-business (B2B) commerce. By ensuring the legitimacy of bank account details before processing payments, companies can protect themselves against fraud, maintain regulatory compliance, and foster trusting relationships with other businesses. This article will outline the best practices for vendor bank account verification. Standardize…
Ensuring the security and accuracy of financial operations is paramount in business-to-business (B2B) commerce. One critical aspect of financial security is understanding and executing bank account ownership verification, which has garnered increasing attention in accounts payable departments across industries. This article aims to define bank account verification in a B2B context and explore why it…
There are nine essential steps involved in cleaning up a vendor master file. These steps include several actions that should occur at vendor onboarding but may not have happened when someone first added many vendors to the master file. Execution of each of these steps will deactivate old vendors and validate and verify current vendors,…
Criminals are compromising emails to steal money from businesses, governments and institutions. Any organization can be a target: businesses of any size, health care organizations, education, and local and state governments. Recent headline cases include Ubiquiti Networks, Toyota Boshoku Corporation, and Scoular Company. And the U.S. territory Puerto Rico offers a classic vendor email compromise…
Are You Prepared? Aggressive Cybercriminals Are Sophisticated; Security, IT and Finance Teams Must Be Too People receive more than 120 emails at work per day on average. That’s a lot of emails. So, we categorize and strategize our email activity. But when we see an email from the boss, we tend to open it. And…
U.S. organizations that issue payments of U.S. source income to U.S. or foreign payees are required to solicit and obtain valid certification of the payee’s TIN, name, residency and status, as per IRS regulations. According to Linda Foertschbeck, CEO of IRS Compliance and payment reporting expert, “Each payer is required by the IRS and many state tax…