Mark Brousseau
AI & Automation in Disbursement Control: The New Front Line in Payment Fraud Prevention
The conversation around automation in disbursement control has fundamentally changed. Just a few years ago, automation was primarily about efficiency: reducing manual tasks, accelerating invoice processing, and improving throughput. Today, while those benefits still matter, the real driver behind automation investment is far more urgent: fraud prevention. Payment fraud is a constant, evolving threat. Business email compromise (BEC), vendor impersonation, and payment redirection schemes are
Know Your Business (KYB) Explained
Organizations can no longer afford to treat vendor onboarding as a routine administrative task. The process of verifying who you are doing business with, commonly known as Know Your Business (KYB), has become a foundational control for managing financial risk, ensuring regulatory compliance, and protecting against fraud. For accounts payable (AP), treasury, procurement, and compliance leaders, KYB is more than a regulatory requirement. It is a strategic capability that directly impacts the in
Pre-Payment Controls: Strengthening Security Before Payment Release
The final moment before a payment is released represents one of the most critical stages in the entire disbursement lifecycle. At this point, suppliers have been brought onboard, invoices have been processed, approvals have been completed, and payment files are prepared for execution. To many organizations, the transaction may appear essentially complete. But from a disbursement control perspective, this stage remains one of the highest risk points in the process. Once funds leave the organi
Monitoring Sanctions Changes
Sanctions compliance is no longer a static onboarding exercise. In today’s rapidly evolving geopolitical and regulatory environment, organizations must continuously monitor sanctions changes throughout the vendor lifecycle to reduce compliance risk, protect financial operations, and strengthen disbursement controls. A supplier that appears compliant today may become high-risk tomorrow. Governments regularly update sanctions programs. Regulatory agencies continuously add and remove individuals
Invoice Processing Controls: Strengthening Disbursement Security During Invoice Processing
Invoice processing sits at the center of the disbursement lifecycle. It is the stage where supplier obligations are validated, payment decisions are initiated, and financial commitments begin moving toward disbursement. Every invoice that enters an organization’s workflow represents both a legitimate business transaction and a potential point of risk. For decades, organizations viewed invoice processing primarily as an operational accounting function focused on routing invoices for approval a
Pre-Onboarding Controls: Strengthening Disbursement Security Before Vendor Onboarding Begins
For many organizations, vendor onboarding officially begins when a supplier submits onboarding documentation or requests to be added to the vendor master file. But from a disbursement control perspective, the risk often begins much earlier. Before a vendor is ever onboarded, approved for payment, or entered in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, organizations make a series of decisions that directly influence the security, integrity, and effectiveness of the entire supplier relations
Payment Processing Controls
Payment processing is one of the most sensitive and high-risk activities within the organization. Every payment that moves through the business represents an opportunity for efficiency and operational excellence, but also a potential point of fraud, error, compliance failure, or financial loss. That is why payment processing controls are essential. Payment processing controls help organizations ensure that payments are accurate, authorized, secure, compliant, and properly executed before fund
Vendor Master File Governance
The vendor master file is one of the most important and often one of the most overlooked assets within modern financial operations. Every supplier payment, invoice workflow, tax process, compliance review, procurement transaction, and disbursement control strategy depends on the integrity of vendor master data. Yet in many organizations, the vendor master file remains fragmented, inconsistently managed, poorly monitored, and highly vulnerable to fraud, errors, and operational inefficiencies.
Ongoing Vendor Monitoring Best Practices
Vendor relationships do not end after onboarding. That is one of the biggest misconceptions organizations continue to make when managing supplier risk. Many finance and procurement teams invest significant time validating vendors during onboarding, including collecting tax documentation, confirming banking details, screening sanctions lists, and reviewing compliance information, only to assume the vendor remains low risk indefinitely. But vendor data changes constantly. Bank accounts change.
Exceptions Handling in Payments
Exceptions are an unavoidable part of the payment process. No matter how strong an organization’s controls may be, situations will arise that fall outside standard workflows. A supplier may submit incomplete information. An invoice may not match a purchase order (PO). Payment may require urgent processing. Banking details may suddenly change. A duplicate payment warning may appear moments before disbursement. The question is not whether exceptions will occur. The question is whether they are ha