Blog

By FISCAL Technologies

The increase in the frequency, types and cost of invoice fraud (£93M in 2018), puts greater pressure on governance and control as the ‘eyes-on’ approval process is limited to spot checking invoice exceptions. Every organisation we speak to firmly believe that they have the systems and processes in place that ensure they don’t carry any financial risk, that they cannot be tricked into paying a fraudster. But in reality, the challenges, stresses and conflicting priorities of today’s businesses make it easy for fraudsters to gather enough tangible information about their targeted organisation to pose convincingly as their supplier. In some cases, receiving multiple payments before the fraud is discovered or when the legitimate supplier complains about non-payment of invoices. At this point, the recovery and return of funds from the fraudulent account is virtually impossible.

According to Crowe Financial Report, published by the University of Portsmouth, ‘Since 2009, losses owing to fraud have risen by 56.5%’.

Some organisations get it. They fully recognise the potential that new technology and process has to transform their business. Others, quite simply, don’t. Some still see automation only as a potentially faster way of doing business, but with added implementation and process change costs, and anyway they're quite happy the way things are – so push it to one side.
But they’re missing a trick – and it’s a much broader one than they imagine. Automation, combined with process change isn’t just a question of speed, done properly it can be a means to an altogether more efficient machine.

Wednesday 9th September, 2020

If lockdown has taught us anything – it’s been the strength and importance of community. In those heady Pre-Covid days in February, you’d have been forgiven for seeing a client or overseas work colleague more often than your neighbour.