Putting the AP in hAPpy

Send us Fan Mail #Scamolidays are still going on, but we’re in the final week of the 4 week focus on specific scams and all content is up and published.  Want to know what content is ready for you to stay safe through New Years and into 2024?   Keep Listening.  Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and best practic...

Send us Fan Mail When you and your team are setting up vendors for ACH or Wire payments – do you know what those bank branch numbers are?  Do you know how to validate?  And if you know you should validate - do you have links to those resources? Keep Listening.  Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and best practic...

Send us Fan Mail From a human behavior perspective, fraudsters depend on our “mental shortcuts” to get us to take action on those phishing emails. Here are three examples and how the other “ishings” come into play – we’re talking about email right?  Keep Listening.  Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and best pr...

Send us Fan Mail There is a school that converted all of their ACH payment vendors to check payments after an ACH fraud occurred.  Most likely because they felt that positive pay would protect them against fraud.  Maybe, but adding an additional step can go further to protect against check payment fraud.   Keep Listening.  Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing...

Send us Fan Mail Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping bring good deals for your co-worker Secret Santa gifts and many of those deals have to be shipped.  Cue fraudsters.  Discover 2 tips to avoid shipping fraud straight from the delivery giant themselves – the US Postal Service! Keep Listening.    Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniqu...

Send us Fan Mail A particular type of check fraud and Ponzi schemes have something in common.  We’re talking internal fraud with one example of how employees can perpetrate check fraud and why it can get out of hand….just like a Ponzi scheme.   Keep Listening.    Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and best pract...

Send us Fan Mail The IRS made a change that will require more of you to file electronically, and guess what you need to file electronically?  Yep, a Transmitter Control Code (TCC).  But you may need more than one, and if you already have one, it may be deactivated.    Keep Listening.    Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal...

Send us Fan Mail It’s that time of the year – preparing for 1099 season.  That means being proactive to avoid IRS fines that result from filing 1099s with missing tax ids.  So here are 3 ways you can find those missing EINs for your reportable vendors before the deadline. Keep Listening.    Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, inter...

Send us Fan Mail Getting ready for tax season now also means being alert for fraudsters posing as the IRS by voice, in letters and notices and in text messages.  If you want to hear what the IRS wants you to know about avoiding scams, by knowing what they won’t do and what you should do to verify or report a tax scam. Keep Listening.    Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need hel...

Send us Fan Mail Okay so we’re still waiting for the IRS to publish the W-9, after all the draft version was issued on July 26, 2023 and it’s already mid-October.  In the interim, or anytime after, let’s talk about a Substitute W-9 Form that you can create (or update) that will benefit the Vendor Team and may even make it easier for the vendor to onboard.   Keep Listening.    Check out my website...

Send us Fan Mail Each week it seems I post about new victims of payment fraud caused by changing vendor banking information.  In this episode I share 20 tips that the Vendor Team can use to avoid business email compromise.      Keep Listening.    Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and best practices to prevent f...

Send us Fan Mail It comes around each year like clockwork – getting your vendor master file ready for annual tax reporting.  It’s a great time to focus on all your vendor records to ensure the vendors are real, their data is accurate and you have time to follow-up with the vendors if their validations fail.  Also, to find out how to get 17 more tips…. Keep Listening.  Check out my website www.debr...

Send us Fan Mail This is another podcast episode answering a frequently asked question.  This episode I will talk about best practices for entering in the vendor information from the IRS Form W-9.  Keep Listening.   Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and best practices to prevent fraudulent payments, regulatory...

Send us Fan Mail The next few podcast episodes will consist of the frequently asked questions that I get in case you had the same questions.  This episode I will talk about what happens when an existing vendor has a new IRS Tax ID, and why the question is not as simple as it sounds.    Keep Listening.    Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication tec...

Send us Fan Mail Check payment fraud continues to increase, and US companies continue to generate checks – neither with any signs of stopping.  Here are the three types of positive pay that you can put into place with your bank to avoid check payment fraud.  Stay on to learn how to find out what “Post No Checks” means and how it can be used to avoid check payment fraud.    Keep Listening.    Check...

Send us Fan Mail We all love our jobs, bosses, companies, etc – but at some point, it may make sense to move on to the next career opportunity.  Well, that opportunity will need a resume and while you may be tempted to use ChatGPT – here is one big reason may want to revise that Microsoft Word, Google Doc or more fancy platforms for resumes – yourself.  What is it?   Keep Listening.    Check out m...

Send us Fan Mail Excited that Wayne Schulz is on the episode today dropping some great best practices when you are implementing that next Accounts Payable (AP) automation project.  If you want to discover his “best” best practice and save yourself from getting too far into a project and figuring out then it won’t work…. Keep Listening.  Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need hel...

Send us Fan Mail On July 26, 2023, the IRS issued a draft version of the Form W-9.  Though the form is not final, what’s different?  What’s missing? Keep Listening.  Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and best practices to prevent fraudulent payments, regulatory fines or bad vendor data. Check out my new Vendor...

Send us Fan Mail You will want to immediately use and share these two email handling tips to avoid fraud with the whole vendor team.  You don’t need IT for either, but one is a result of never-thought-about-it behavior of spam/fraud filters, and the other one you need a quick formula!  I probably have you wondering now….     Keep Listening.    Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you n...

Send us Fan Mail Something new and not good.  Fraudsters are expanding Synthetic ID Fraud from consumers to businesses.  Discover what Synthetic ID Fraud is, why now, how it affects the Vendor Team and what steps the Vendor Team can take to combat it.  Keep Listening.   Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and bes...

Send us Fan Mail When it comes to vendor validations are you performing enough?  Too many?  Too often?  How do you know for sure? Do you want vendor validations customized for your company? Keep Listening.  Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and best practices to prevent fraudulent payments, regulatory fines or...

Send us Fan Mail My power is out! Enjoy the replay of this always timely subject.  It’s common practice for Accounts Payable (AP) Vendor Maintenance to call the vendor when there is a change requested to the vendor’s bank account.  There is no shortage of fraud being reported, for AP teams not to know that additional validation protects companies from making fraudulent payments.  The question is:...

Send us Fan Mail We can always count on the IRS for updates that make us update!   There are two that affect 1099s for the 2023 Tax Year and you can get a head start on preparing for them.  What are they and what can you start doing now?..... Keep Listening.  Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and best practices...

Send us Fan Mail To prevent payment fraud, Is your organization relying on you and your team members to spot that fraudulent email?  If so, that pressure could be taking a toll on you.  I’ll discuss my observations of the reaction of the company and the reaction of team members when a fraudulent payment is made.   Keep Listening.  Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help impl...

Send us Fan Mail Need benchmarking for your vendor activity and can’t find any? In this episode I discuss how you can create your own.  I’ll also provide two episodes where you can get 25 KPIs that you can use with an explanation of how to use each.   Keep Listening.    Check out my website www.debrarrichardson.com if you need help implementing authentication techniques, internal controls, and bes...