APNow

AP Technology Week: Data Technology and Careers

This AP Technology Week session focuses on fraud protection. The panel discusses technology data and careers in accounts payable and P2P, procure to pay. This is part of AP Now’s Accounts Payable Technology Week which is designed to bring the accounts payable,
accounting, P2P and payments community together to discuss all things related to technology and its impact on the AP, P2P and payment functions. This session of #APTechWeek focuses on #dataanalytics as it relates to the #accountspayable function and the role data and technology play in careers and career advancement in accounts payable.

Some of the issues discussed in this session include advice to younger self, how to learn about the latest technology, misconceptions about technology and what it can do, changes
coming in the next few years likely to impact careers, data and dark data, insights that can be extracted from data, Excel and the best career advice related to technology and data the B2B community needs to hear.

Accounts Payable Technology Week is devoted to discussing the most current issues related to AP and P2P and technology. One of the ways professionals can stand out from the crowd is to learn how to use technology to extract insights from the data that resides in the ERP systems of all organizations.

Playlist of the 2022 AP Technology Week Sessions
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtL6rWSXZHeTeFa4eBOVeHvE2NbY4KEz

Playlist of the 2021 AP Technology Week Sessions
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtL6rWSXZHfvKQrScgUdpa3thmmRqg3s

Guest: Jamie Radford (https://ap-association.com/ )
Guest: Tom Flynn (https://www.spendmend.com/ )
Guest: Dan French (https://www.consider.biz/ )

Host: Mary Schaeffer (www.ap-now.com)

AP Technology Week: Fraud Protection

This AP Technology Week session focuses on fraud protection. The panel discusses fraud, fraud protection and shares some insightful fraud stories. This is part of AP Now’s Accounts Payable Technology Week which is designed to bring the accounts payable, accounting, P2P and payments community together to discuss all things related to technology and its impact on the AP, P2P and payment functions. This session of #APTechWeek focuses on #paymentfraud protection as it relates to the #accountspayable function.

Some of the issues discussed in this session include the biggest fraud innovations, the most bizarre frauds, the most frustrating thing panelists see companies ignoring when it comes to fraud protection, pink collar crime, Friday fraud, fraud and scams involving instant payments and real time payments, frauds involving the master vendor file, or the master supplier file, internal or employee fraud, sometimes referred to as occupational fraud, credit card or p-card fraud including weak practices that facilitate fraud and of course, the best fraud protection advice the B2B community needs to hear.

Accounts Payable Technology Week is devoted to discussing the most current issues related to AP and P2P and technology. Alas, criminals use technology to facilitate many of their frauds. Increasingly they use social media as well. This is also discussed.

Each of the panelists has already appeared on previous AP Now podcasts. You can see some of their sessions as follows:

Lynn Larson discussing Zelle Fraud
https://youtu.be/L02mUitjsKc

Kelly Paxton discussing Pink Collar Crime and Embezzlement
https://youtu.be/NIxniQbMFIQ

Ellen Leith on Remote Work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7aXsuyn2Hg&t

Playlist of the 2021 AP Technology Week Sessions
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtL6rWSXZ-HfvKQrScgUdpa3thmmRqg3s

Playlist of the 2022 AP Technology Week Sessions
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtL6rWSXZ-HeTeFa4eBOVeHvE2NbY4KEz

Purchase Embezzlement: How to Detect, Prevent, and Investigate Pink-Collar Crime by Kelly Paxton
https://www.amazon.com/Embezzlement-Detect-Prevent-Investigate-Pink-Collar/dp/B08QBYKJR1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3OSXNX1FAAQHB

Guest: Ellen Leith (https://www.p2pnetwork.org/ )
Guest: Lynn Larson (https://www.recharged-education.com/ )
Guest: Kelly Paxton (https://kellypaxton.com/ )

Host: Mary Schaeffer (www.ap-now.com)

IRS Increases Mileage Rate July 1, 2022: Update

The IRS has increased the optional standard mileage rates for computing the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business. This mileage reimbursement rate is used in expense report reimbursements by many, many business entities (both for profit and not for profit) for the purpose of reimbursing for mileage when an employee or other individual uses their own vehicle for the organization’s business.

The optional standard mileage rate is watched by many as over 80% of all businesses use it for the purpose of reimbursing employees for mileage driven in their personal automobiles for company business. The mileage reimbursement rate is used for expense reporting purposes and as such many employees watch it closely.

This is not the first time the IRS has made a mid-year adjustment, but it is certainly not something that happens every year. The increase in the IRS mileage reimbursement rate is welcome by many employees, or at least those who use their own cards for company business.

Link to 5 FBI cases on Fraud and Embezzlement https://youtu.be/etcOcZi0m_Y

Link to P2P Quick Tip Playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtL6rWSXZ-Hci6r3HHsWJDv8tr1z9wKqP

Link to sign up for AP Now free ezine (use box on left of page) https://www.ap-now.com/

 

Purchase to Pay Quick Tip #5: When Supplier Relations Are Dreadful

Purchase to pay quick tips are a series of short best practices tips designed to help the viewer run a more efficient P2P operation. The fifth focuses on supplier relations, specifically poor vendor relations, i.e. when relations between accounts payable and procurement with
suppliers or vendors is not good. This can lead to animosity on both sides. This video shares a few tips that will help viewers get their relations with suppliers back on the right track. #accountspayable #P2PQuickTip #accounting

Good relations with vendors are important if you don’t want to waste valuable time and resources arguing with a valued business partner. When relations with vendors and suppliers are strong, it makes life a lot easier for both parties. That’s why accounts payable, purchasing and P2P are strongly advised to take care and establish a good relationship with all suppliers. The tips included in this video will help everyone take a realistic view of what it will take to get rocky relationships onto a level playing field and set realistic expectations of how long it will take.

Do your relations with your suppliers STINK? Do you want to change that, improve the relationship and move on? Stick around while we share some tips on how to make that much-needed change.

Link to Purchase to Pay Quick Tips Playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtL6rWSXZ-Hci6r3HHsWJDv8tr1z9wKqP

Learn more about Compleat:
https://hubs.ly/Q01b1z2v0

Host: Mary Schaeffer www.ap-now.com

Purchase to Pay Quick Tip #4: Ending the P2P Paper Nightmare

Purchase to pay quick tips are a series of short best practices tips designed to help the viewer run a more efficient P2P operation. The fourth focuses on the P2P paper nightmare. All accounts payable operations and for that matter P2P operations are now focused on
going paperless, or at least getting rid of as much paper as they can. #Goingpaperless in #accountspayable and all P2P operations is a goal at best practice organizations. #P2PQuickTip

Those P2P organizations that wish to become best practice and drive price efficiency now focus aggressively on going paperless. In this broadcast, we’ve got several process improvement tips that will help them with this goal. But it would be foolish to think it could
all be done without any technology or automation. That is where real change can be made. Whether you are just looking at the accounts payable process or the entire P2P process, eliminating paper is the first step towards a more efficient organization.

Is your purchasing and payment process loaded with paper? Do you know, on an intellectual basis, that you’ve got too much paper but you don’t know where to start to get rid of it? Stick around while we share a few tips on getting rid of that paper and ending your P2P
paper nightmare.

Link to Purchase to Pay Quick Tips Playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtL6rWSXZ-Hci6r3HHsWJDv8tr1z9wKqP

Learn more about Compleat:
https://hubs.ly/Q01b1z2v0

Host: Mary Schaeffer www.ap-now.com

Purchase to Pay Quick Tip #3: When Spend Analytics Don’t Deliver

Purchase to pay quick tips are a series of short best practices tips designed to help the viewer run a more efficient P2P operation. The third focuses on spend analytics that don’t deliver what is needed. Analytics are an important part of any process, if you wish to improve it. So, getting less than ideal spend analytics is likely to create all sorts of problems in #accountspayable, procurement and elsewhere. #P2PQuickTip #accounting

As analytics become more important and it becomes easier to produce budget vs. actual spend reports, employees will come under more scrutiny, if they are over spending. They are then likely to complain and cause other problems when they can’t get the data they need and rightfully should have.

Do your employees complain because they don’t know where they stand vis-a-vi the budget? They don’t know how much has been spent and more importantly, how much they still have to spend. Is your organization maximizing its purchasing power, taking advantage of all the quantity discounts it is entitled to? We’ve got some simple solutions to address this problem and make sure your company comes out a winner, while simultaneously boosting the bottom line in order to do an efficient and effective job.

Link to Purchase to Pay Quick Tips Playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtL6rWSXZ-Hci6r3HHsWJDv8tr1z9wKqP

Learn more about Compleat:
https://hubs.ly/Q01b1z2v0

Host: Mary Schaeffer www.ap-now.com

Purchase to Pay Quick Tip #2: Taming Inefficient Manual P2P Processes

Purchase to pay quick tips are a series of short best practices tips designed to help the viewer run a more efficient P2P operation. The second focuses on inefficient and manual P2P processes in the accounts payable and entire P2P operation – and what you can do to improve them so you have a more efficient, cost-effective P2P process, including the accounts payable process. #P2PQuickTip #accountspayable #P2P

In this episode, we discuss several process improvements that can be made of manual, inefficient processes. Clearly automation will help, but there are process improvements that can be made as well. More companies have inefficient manual P2P processes across their
accounts payable and procurement departments. That’s part of the reason, accounts payable or purchase ledger are often at odds with purchasing.

Is your AP and procurement staff overloaded with manual processes, clunky workflows, that result in delayed approvals, which lead to late payments and angry suppliers? We’ve got some simple solutions to help you ease the load and tame those inefficient manual processes. But at the end of the day, these process improvements will only take you so far.

Automation has become a real player in the accounts payable, procure to pay, and or purchasing functions in many, many organizations.

Link to Purchase to Pay Quick Tips Playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtL6rWSXZ-Hci6r3HHsWJDv8tr1z9wKqP

Learn more about Compleat:
https://hubs.ly/Q01b1z2v0

Host: Mary Schaeffer www.ap-now.com

Purchase to Pay Quick Tip #1: The Lack of Budget Compliance Headache

Purchase to pay quick tips are a series of short best practices tips designed to help the viewer run a more efficient P2P operation. The first focuses on lack of budget compliance in the P2P process. This #P2PQuickTip is designed for #accountspayable, P2P and #accounting professionals. Procurement professionals will benefit as well.

Do you have employees who treat the budget as a suggestion rather than hard and fast guidelines for what they can spend? Do you only find out after the fact, that they’ve exceeded budget guidelines? Since they’ve already committed the organization, you’re stuck paying the bill. Stick around while we share some tips on how to rein in these rogue purchasers who are giving you a budget compliance headache.

Lack of budget compliance creates a huge headache for purchase to pay, or procure to pay, professionals. This often includes accounts payable. The procurement team is focused on purchasing the products needed by the organization, sometimes without regard to budget. The creates budget compliance problems when there are budget variances. Spend and budget problems create additional headaches for accounting, when purchase ledger professionals produce reports on budget variances.

Link to Purchase to Pay Quick Tips Playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtL6rWSXZ-Hci6r3HHsWJDv8tr1z9wKqP

Learn more about Compleat:
https://hubs.ly/Q01b1z2v0

Host: Mary Schaeffer www.ap-now.com

Protect Your Zelle Account: Simple Steps Everyone Can Take

A New Fraud: Password Stupidity [Like You’ve Never Seen Before] + Tips

Password stupidity relates not only to not using a strong word, it can also be not taking proper care of passwords as explained in this video. Password stupidity can facilitate fraud and can cost a company a lot. In this case it was an accounting manager who took
advantage of a weak #password system to defraud the organization by impersonating various personnel in the #accountspayable and #accounting departments.

This new fraud was due to unmitigated password stupidity that did not rely on weak passwords but rather mismanagement that resulted in total lack of controls and segregation of duties. The issue of passwords is an important one and yet not everyone takes it seriously. As you can see from this video, ignoring strong password practices can result in a costly disaster. You can protect your organization by making sure everyone sets strong passwords.

While just about everyone knows not to use passwords like password, 123456, their pets name etc., you would think they wouldn’t have to be warned about what I am very tactlessly calling, one of the stupidest frauds of all time. Stick around until the end when we do a quick review of what to do and not to do when selecting a strong password.

Link to Fraud and Employee Embezzlement: 5 FBI Cases
https://youtu.be/etcOcZi0m_Y

Host: Mary Schaeffer (www.ap-now.com)