Scammers manipulate us. They enlist our human nature against us in so-called social engineering. As a group of researchers recently reported in the Wall Street Journal, the culprit in our failure to avoid falling for email and text scams is the human brain and its limitations. To help counter that, another researcher, in conversations with IT security … Trust Your Gut and Avoid Getting Phished
The Challenge of Verifying Supplier Information Managing supplier information has never been easy. Small slipups in collecting, verifying and storing supplier information increase errors, non-compliance and fraud vulnerability. The prolonged shift to remote work has made verifying supplier information harder and riskier. Bad actors are using the disruption caused by remote working to perpetrate payment … How to Reduce the Risk of Payment Fraud through the Automatic Verification of Bank Account Ownership
Appearances and Vendor Payments One of the most iconic scenes in a Hollywood heist movie comes near the end of Ocean’s Eleven. The “team” minus Danny Ocean lean against the balustrade in front of the Bellagio on the Las Vegas strip, quietly gazing at the fountains as Debussy’s beautiful Claire de Lune plays. Then one … Falling for the Illusion of Cybercriminals Will Cost You
OFAC Sanctions Russians and Others The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list of sanctioned persons and entities has grown since Russia invaded Ukraine. But along with Russian oligarchs and entities, OFAC has also designated others, most notably two key Hizballah financiers operating out of Guinea in West Africa, in compliance with … OFAC Is Busy with Russia and More – Are You Keeping Up?
ACH has steadily grown, while check payments are declining. Seventy-eight percent of organizations use ACH for some vendor payments. And while 82 percent of organizations still make some payments by check, according to a survey by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), the volume of checks by businesses has been steadily declining. According to the Federal … ACH Rising: What It Means for Vendor Information Management
With the pandemic-driven shift to remote work, many organizations moved more check payments to electronic formats, primarily ACH. That has necessitated vendors providing organizations with bank account information. Criminals, of course, go where the money is. And in the hasty shift to more electronic payments and, therefore, more vendors sharing bank account information, many organizations … Two Controls to Protect Vendor Bank Account Information
Do you have controls on managing vendor information and the vendor master file? Do you follow them? Experienced managers will say, “Duh.” However, others can use a reminder, so here it is. “With commerce comes fraud,” says Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of Airbnb. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), in its 2020 Report to the … Why Vendor Controls and Confirmations Are Critical
Several important factors are involved in vendor onboarding, but these can make an inefficient process. Onboarding begins, naturally, with the collection of the requisite information. How an organization collects vendor data touches on accuracy versus error, completeness, privacy and security. An organization must validate vendor data to meet compliance requirements and ensure accuracy of the … How to Gain Efficiency in Vendor Onboarding
Compared to IRS Form 1042-S, Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding, completing and filing IRS Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC is easy! But now Form 1042-S filers have help. The IRS has announced the launch of a new online tool that enables “withholding agents” (that would be accounts payable departments, among others) to run … IRS Launches Online Tool to Review 1042-S Data Before Filing
As companies chase down vendors’ missing taxpayer identification numbers (TINs), it is helpful for the master file or AP staff to know what they are looking for. If the TIN is wrong, it might not be immediately apparent. But if the TIN is “obviously incorrect,” as the IRS calls it, the IRS treats it the … How to Know If a Vendor TIN Is Incorrect
In the fourth quarter, accounts payable personnel must start planning for annual payment information reporting responsibilities, also known as 1099s. If you follow this newsletter regularly, you know what that entails. However, if you are new to 1099s or accounts payable (AP), here is essential information. Organizations, including not-for-profits as well as businesses, must report … 3 Things about IRS Form W-9
It’s late September and time to plan for 1099 reporting for 2021. That means checking your vendor master for missing taxpayer-identification numbers and classifications and formulating a plan to collect and verify them by the end of the year. It also means preparing for this year’s form changes. Last year saw changes to the 1099-MISC … Time to Check Your TINs, Plus: 1099-MISC and NEC Form Changes
