How AP Automation Reduces Fraud

Mitigating security risks is a top-of-mind issue for accounts payable leaders.  And for good reason.  Data breaches at prominent businesses are seemingly a regular item in daily newspaper and the nightly news.  No AP department wants that kind of press!

Data breaches take a heavy toll on businesses:

• Financial losses
• Penalties and/or sanctions
• Reputational damage
• Lost business
• Costly remediation

 

The average breach costs businesses $148 per lost or stolen record, The Ponemon Institute finds.

Sixty percent of businesses worldwide have been breached at some point in their History, and 30 percent of businesses have suffered a data breach within the past year, per the 2019 Thales Global Threat Report. Among U.S. businesses, 65 percent have been breached in the last three years.

The stakes for accounts payable leaders and other senior finance executives to safeguard their organization’s sensitive data will grow as more businesses digitize greater amounts of their mission-critical information.

Choosing the wrong automation solution can put sensitive invoice and financial data at risk, especially when employee Work from Home.  This is sobering news for the 97 percent of businesses that have digital transformation initiatives underway.

For instance, less than one-third of businesses worldwide use encryption as part of their digital transformation initiatives, the 2019 Thales Global Threat Report notes.  It is no wonder that 86 percent of businesses feel vulnerable to data threats, per the 2019 Thales Global Threat Report.

 

Cybersecurity threats are on top of the threat from traditional financial fraud such as:

• Vendor schemes
• Collusion
• Inventory theft and fraud
• Computer-based payments fraud
• Conflicts of interest
• Fraudulent financial reporting

 

Accounts payable automation can help mitigate the risk of payment fraud.

AP automation software mitigates potential security risks in 11 critical ways:

1. Operating system isolation
2. Secure private cloud
3. Roles-based access
4. Tracking of document history and approvals
5. Strict adherence to approval policies and separation of duties
6. Chain of custody assurances
7. Readily available audit information
8. Near instantaneous recovery from viruses and other malicious attacks
9. Encryption of data at rest and in transit
10. PCI compliance controls
11. Controls to prevent documents from being discarded or destroyed ahead of deadlines

 

No AP department is immune to data security threats.  But choosing the right AP automation software for invoice processing enables AP leaders and other senior finance executives to mitigate their risks.

Edenred Pay can help your accounts payable department automate its AP and invoice processing while managing its risk of payment fraud.

 

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Edenred Pay, an Edenred Company, is the global leader in invoice-to-pay automation. Our integrated platform connects businesses with suppliers, ERPs, banks, FinTechs, and payment rails to automate, optimize, and monetize the entire B2B payments lifecycle – from invoice receipt through payment reconciliation. Edenred Pay’s efficient, integrated solutions create a frictionless process and help deliver value to the enterprise by enhancing visibility and monetizing AP.

Visit www.edenredpay.com or contact us to learn more.