The IOFM Podcast

Join two of IOFM's speakers as they take you behind the scenes of their journey to speaking at IOFM. Discover how they got started with IOFM, hear about their upcoming IOFM Fall sessions, and get their insider tips on making the most of your time at the Fall Conference. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a seasoned pro, this episode will help you prepare for a successful and impactful event!

Although procurement and AP are different stages of the same process, both areas tend to operate in silos, observes Katrina DeProfio-Carroll, a P2P global process owner. While the two departments' day-to-day goals and the metrics they measure success with differ on the surface, they both have the same overarching objective — to make sure the organization has what it needs when it needs it, which n...

Automation is revolutionizing the way we approach AP, but implementing it successfully requires careful planning and a collaborative team. Rowena Froegel offers her expertise on how to embark on this journey, providing invaluable advice on fostering a positive attitude towards change and ensuring your team embraces automation with enthusiasm. You'll gain insights into effective strategies for your...

Benchmarking is a pivotal tool for any organization looking to stay competitive and efficient. Jennifer Huffman delves into why benchmarking is especially important in the AP industry, offering a comprehensive guide on how to measure your performance against your peers and competitors. Discover how to leverage these insights to drive meaningful change and continuous improvement within your organiz...

In many organizations, AP and AR are viewed as separate entities, each with its own set of challenges and objectives. However, Les Smeyers reveals how these two essential functions are, in fact, parts of a greater financial operation. Understanding and leveraging the synergy between AP and AR can lead to more efficient processes, improved cash flow, and stronger overall financial health for your o...

In March 2024, the IRS quietly released a new version of its Form W-9, "Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification." Although this revision had been pending for some time, the actual update was introduced with little fanfare. We spoke with tax expert Jason Dinesen to get a better understanding of how the form has changed and what it means for organizations that must collect this...

In this episode, we sit down with Debra Richardson, a beloved and long-time speaker at IOFM events. Known for her engaging sessions on fraud prevention, vendor master file management, and the integration of AI in accounts payable, Debra has become a crowd favorite over the years. Join us as Debra shares her journey into the world of public speaking, her extensive experience with IOFM conferences,...

Are you ready to take your AP career to the next level? Join us in this insightful episode as we explore essential strategies to help AP professionals stand out and secure a crucial seat at the decision-making table. We'll delve into how you can shine in interviews by mastering practical tips and techniques that impress hiring managers and help you land your dream job in AP. We'll also discuss the...

In this podcast, IOFM Managing Editor Royce Grayson Morse talks to Candace Jaramillo, certified P2P manager at Liberty Oilfield Services and brain-based coach. Jaramillo advises that the first step to creating positivity about AP within an organization is to simply listen — to employees and upper management alike. While taking on her current role, she did just that — and one of the first things sh...

Unclaimed property expert Jim Sadik talks compliance with IOFM Content Manager Grace Chlosta in this interesting podcast on a topic that impacts most businesses. Organizations usually have at least some uncashed checks or credit balances that need to be managed in accordance with unclaimed property laws, but how they choose to handle them varies. Some companies are strongly motivated to not have t...

When Arecka Mather, APM, had to manage her team through a system conversion, she was particularly challenged. As a person who herself struggles with change, her leadership was essential to the success of the project, but she needed to overcome her own anxiety while getting everyone else on board as well. In this podcast, Arecka talks about her experiences with IOFM Managing Editor Royce Grayson Mo...

With a team as important and hard-working as Accounts Payable, it is easy for members to feel overworked, overwhelmed, and unmotivated to come to work. As leaders, it's important to build our teams up, help them utilize unique communication strategies, and think outside the box in order to be efficient. In this episode, we speak to Katie Noto, a Senior Manager of P2P at BDO USA, and delve into the...

IOFM receives a lot of questions about the process for correcting 1099 filings, and even whether a correction is necessary in the first place. In this podcast, we speak to Jason Dinesen about the circumstances under which it might be necessary to issue one. What if the recipient's name was spelled wrong? What if the dollar amount or a TIN number was incorrect? What if a check was never cashed? And...

It's February, and romance is in the air! However, what you don't want is for a scammer to woo you into doing something you shouldn't. Unfortunately, fraudsters are always upping their game and developing new techniques to rip off unsuspecting AP professionals. Some of their latest gambits involve getting close to you on a personal level in order to get you to let your guard down. In this fascinat...

While the terms leadership and management are sometimes used interchangeably, there are important differences. IOFM recently spoke with Tracy Zurcher, District Manager at FedEx Ground, to get her thoughts on how to advance both within your organization. She notes that while management tends to focus on process handling, leadership involves relationship building. Each practice requires different sk...

When COVID hit, many Accounts Payable teams were unprepared, particularly if they relied on paper invoices and checks. Lynn Tate, APM, Accounts Payable & Expense Report Analyst for Urban Science Applications Inc., found herself in a situation that required a significant degree of creativity: In order to get her invoices approved and paid in a timely fashion, she needed to quickly find a way to man...

"Upper management knows what you do … but they really don't know what you do." So says Patrick Kurtz, Client AP Manager for HomeRiver Group. He explains that although executives understand in principle what accounts payable involves, it's likely that they don't comprehend the day-to-day challenges of AP. While collecting metrics to present to the C-suite when making a case for automation is a help...

Most organizations have non-U.S. vendors lurking in their vendor master files, but may not even realize it. Worse yet, some of those vendors may appear on the watchlists published by the U.S. government. Because doing business with these entities without proper due diligence regarding withholding — or even doing business with them at all — can result in steep fines and penalties, it's important to...

In his work as an educational consultant at Unimarket, Christopher Rust helps clients improve their P2P processes to realize cost savings while freeing up staff to make a greater contribution to the institution. He recommends taking a thorough look at the impact of change management, both to the department and the institution overall. Moving contract management, procurement and AP into an electron...

Accounts payable professionals have all undoubtedly heard of artificial intelligence and how it's likely to change the business landscape. But how is AI expected to impact AP's functions?  In this podcast with David Glass, IOFM discusses the different types of what may be considered AI — from optical character recognition and robotic process automation, all the way to sophisticated machine learnin...

The IRS is making some significant changes to e-filing requirements. While it used to be that you could choose to file 1099s in paper form as long as you didn't have more than 250 of any one type, that is no longer the case. In fact, the threshold for 2024 reporting of 2023 amounts has been reduced to an aggregated total of 10 forms of all  types, and that includes more than just 1099s — it applie...

One thing that many AP professionals experience is finding themselves compartmentalized away from the organization as a whole. That's due in part to the mistaken perception that accounts payable is a strictly clerical function. Yet the irony is that a major portion of the company's cash moves through the hands of AP, a department that has inside knowledge about finance operations — and where both...

Good relationships in credit and collections make all the difference to a successful strategy. Both internal relationships with sales and management, and external relationships with customers are key to creating an environment of openness, collaboration — and ultimately, receivables success — yet it's sometimes a delicate balance. Lisa stresses communicating early and often is important to making...

In this podcast, Defays discusses the problem of siloing in the O2C process and how that can impact the business's bottom line. He also offers suggestions for improving O2C operations by using training resources, benchmarking and best practices as tools for broadening perspective and getting out of "we've always done it that way" mode.

Join us for a conversation between Debra Richardson and IOFM's Executive Editor Jess Scheer as they discuss the vendor master file, fraud, compliance, keeping the VMF clean – and how desktop procedures are a big part of that effort.