Preventing Fraudulent Invoices With AP Automation

Fraudulent invoices are always a concern for your business. You never know if a vendor is submitting more than one invoice for the same job, or you may find that someone on your staff is submitting invoices that allow them to steal money. You do not want to find yourself in a situation like that, but you should take some steps to avoid problems in the future. Use the steps listed below to ensure that your company is not losing money to fraud.

Use Automated Software

AP automation allows you to check every invoice in seconds. The program will collect financial information during the day, fill in your ledger, and let you know if any invoices fall outside the parameters you have set. You can set a price limit for every vendor, or you could tell the system to deny any document that is not complete.

Automated software is something that you use when you have a small staff that does not have time to pour over every invoice. A strong AP automation solution will do most of the work for you.

You Can Review The Documents In Seconds

The automated system that you use will scan every invoice that is submitted. Managers need to review every invoice that is submitted, but you might lose papers or forget them if you have not scanned them. When the software scans every invoice that is submitted and converts them to digital format using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), you can scroll through them on your computer.

You can use the search function on each page to look for information on the invoice that will help you make wise decisions. You may notice a company or address you do not recognize. It can help you quickly investigate these companies, and you may discover a front business that was created for fraudulent purposes.

When you have a scan of every document, you do not need to worry about someone stealing the invoices, losing them, or altering them. Plus, you can see when certain documents have been changed before they were entered into the system. The software that you use allows you to investigate every invoice that you believe may be fraudulent.

You Can Track The Exact Amount Of Money Spent

When you are tracking the exact amount of money spent on each vendor, you may discover holes in your budget that were created by fraud. If you have spent $1000 every month with a certain vendor, you will be surprised to find out that you spent $5000 this month. You may find fraudulent invoices that were used to help that company make extra money at your expense, and you can challenge those invoices.

When you are creating reports for your business, you can also see who approved the invoice. When the system requires just one person to approve an invoice, you can target the employee who seems to be approving all the fraudulent invoices.

The Invoice System May Send Your Alerts

You will receive alerts when invoices are higher than a pre-set limit. You may set a limit for every vendor that you have, and you will receive an alert when invoices go over that limit. It is easy to find fraudulent invoices when they go far over your limit, and someone who tries to set up a new vendor cannot do so because they cannot set the proper alerts.

Alerts should be sent when your invoices cause any issues. If the invoice is incomplete, you need to be alerted. If the invoice is too expensive, you need to know. You can get an alert if the invoice is not signed, does not have a physical address, or does not list the name of a company you have heard of.

Have Control Over The System

You have complete control over the system when you are approving invoices every day. If you have locked down your system so that you are the only person who can set up invoices, all other vendors will be kicked off the system. You can review all the invoices that come in from new vendors, and you will stop fraudulent invoices before they go into the system.

You may give some control to your managers, but you get to decide who has the power to create new vendors. Plus, you can lock out people who you believe are creating or funding fraudulent invoices.

Conclusion

When you are hoping to prevent fraudulent invoices, you must use automated accounting software to ensure that you are not defrauded. Your managers can review all your invoices much more quickly, and you can control who is in your system. Several people would like to avoid fraud or have had problems in the past. Someone who wants to set up a new accounting system can do so today, and you can streamline your processes at the same time.