Mitigate the Risk of Accounts Payable Fraud (and cut costs!) with AP Automation

As an Accounts Payable Manager, you build in measures to minimize vulnerabilities. Sadly, one of the biggest vulnerabilities in your department is company loss due to fraud. 

Fraud is a huge issue for AP departments today. According to a 2018 survey run by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the profit loss reported by companies in the survey (a small fraction of total global companies) exceeded 7.1 billion.

Billion. With a B.

But there's good news to throw at those billions of missing funds: much of the underhanded goings-on happened because of manual touchpoints that weren't tracked. Automated audits would have thrown a red flag when Mary from finance wrote checks to her shell company in the British Virgin Islands. That Mary! Who would have guessed? 

Nobody. Problem underscored.

Today, accounts payable automation technology is more efficient and cost-effective than ever before. AP automation detects money mischief like billing or fraud schemes, check frauds, conflicts of interest, and duplicate invoices quickly—and with monitored confidence. Not only that but, by outsourcing your AP, you save valuable time and money while giving your company the highest standard of protection against mal-meaning money-meddling Marys. 

Let's talk about how AP automation thwarts accounts payable fraud, starting with human error.

AP Automation Minimizes Human Error (the honest kind)

Before we dive into the specifics of AP automation and its risk-minimizing amazingness, it’s important to talk about human error—the honest kind— and how unintentional slips expose your company.

At the end of the day, we’re only human. We all make mistakes! Ingloriously, the consequences of those mistakes make things even harder for you as an AP manager.

According to the AFCE’s annual survey from 2019, 2 in 5 frauds are committed by people living beyond their means. 1 in 5 are committed by people experiencing financial problems—the kind that happen when a pandemic forces company closures and temporary layoffs. 

As a result, times of widespread economic hardship—like a global pandemic—drive more people to fraud. 

That is sad because fraud is wrong even if we have a compassionate perspective to lend: protecting your family may push otherwise good people to break the law to pay medical bills for loved ones in the hospital.

So there is straight-up intentional fraud on one hand. On the other, there are internal mishaps that make your company even more vulnerable to accounts payable fraud. 

Whenever a piece of paper, a check, or document of any kind passes through human hands, it’s an opportunity for error—whether that’s intentional fraud or a simple scanning error. The problem is that even the smallest human errors can add up to massive loss and, ultimately, compromise company integrity.

At Revolution Data Systems, our digital solutions minimize the effects of human error—AP automation systems maximum fraud protection. 

Less human contact, less error, more protection.

So How Does Automation Protect You From Accounts Payable Fraud, Anyway?

We’re glad you asked! There are a few ways AP automation reduces manual touchpoints and cuts costs while simultaneously increasing fraud protection and office productivity.

It all starts with an outsourced mailroom. 

When your business has an internal mailroom with actual humans manually handling incoming checks, purchase orders, and invoice numbers, there’s room for error. 

But when you outsource your mailroom services to a third party, you eliminate those manual touchpoints. Your accounts payable staff is free to use their valuable time and energy elsewhere, while the automated system scans, indexes, and distributes your incoming mail automagically. It’s a win-win.

The benefits don’t end there.

Once an invoice is scanned, our unique software solution keeps a record of exactly who does what and when. Any time one of your team members interacts with a payment, you’ll have a record of it. 

That means you’ll be notified in the event Mary makes a “mistake” such as duplication or an odd invoice approval or paying a company that isn’t listed as a supplier or partner—or an actual company. The system prevents human errors and intentional fraud. When mistakes do occur, you’ll see them and they’re corrected immediately. 

Ready to Get Started?

Consider this: According to Forbes, manually processing invoices costs three times as much as it costs to use an AP automation system. Now add in the cost of fraudulent transactions not caught by an automated system. By continuing to use manual invoice-processing systems, you dramatically increase your vulnerability to fraud, which could amount to 5% of your revenue. That’s not a small chunk of change.

But with an AP automation system from a SOC 2 vendor you can trust (hint: Revolution Data Systems), you take steps to protect your company from AP fraud today. 

Start processing and managing your incoming payments and invoices automatically and give your team the gift of productivity. Our AP fraud solutions give you peace of mind—and you can’t put a price tag on that.

Please visit our website to learn more about AP Automation. Give us a call! Our phone number is listed on our contact page. Even easier, there’s a convenient form you can fill out to send us an email. Let’s get the ball rolling on your new AP automation system, mitigate risk, and install top-quality fraud protection today.