--- title: How to Guard Against Accounts Payable Risks and Fraud | Aavenir url: https://aavenir.com/how-to-guard-organisations-against-accounts-payable-risks/ description: The main accounts payable risks: missed due dates, supplier and internal fraud, and poor payment visibility, with the controls that reduce each one. updated: 2026-11-07 --- [Home](https://aavenir.com/) / [Blog](https://aavenir.com/blogs/) / Accounts payable risks Accounts payable # How to guard organizations against accounts payable risks Accounts payable moves money out of the business every day. The controls around it decide how much of that money should have moved. NP **Nupur Patel**Aug 16, 2021 ยท 4 min read Accounts payable sits at the point where money leaves the business, which makes it a target for fraud and a source of costly mistakes. Late payments damage supplier trust and add fees. Duplicate and fraudulent payments are hard to recover. And when nobody can see the status of an invoice, forecasting and the month end close both suffer. Payment fraud remains widespread. The [AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey](https://www.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpm/commercial-banking/documents/fraud-protection/2021-afp-payments-fraud-and-control-survey-report-highlights.pdf), published with J.P. Morgan, found that 74% of organizations were targets of payments fraud in 2020, a year when many finance teams moved to remote work overnight. The figure is several years old, but the risks it describes have not gone away. This guide covers the three biggest accounts payable risks and the controls that reduce them. Key takeaways - Missed due dates cost late fees, discounts and supplier goodwill - Fraud comes from outside, such as fake suppliers, and from inside, such as false billing - Poor visibility into invoice status weakens forecasting and the close - Verify suppliers and bank detail changes independently - Digital invoices, automated approvals and audit trails close most of the gaps ## Risk one: missed invoice due dates When invoices arrive on paper or in several inboxes, some wait days before anyone enters them. By the time they reach an approver, the due date is close or past. Late payment can bring penalty fees and interest, strain supplier relationships and cost the business early payment discounts it was entitled to. Late payments also distort cash planning. If treasury cannot see what is due and when, it cannot plan reliably. The fix is speed at intake: capture every invoice the day it arrives, extract its due date and discount terms, and route it to the approver at once. See [contract payment terms](https://aavenir.com/contract-payment-terms/) for how terms in the contract should flow into accounts payable. ## Risk two: fraud and malpractice ### External fraud - **Duplicate payments:**the same invoice is paid twice, through error or because a supplier resubmits it in another format. See [how to deal with duplicate invoices](https://aavenir.com/how-to-deal-with-duplicate-invoices/). - **Fictitious or unapproved suppliers:**payments go to a supplier that does not exist or was never approved, for goods or services never delivered. - **Bank detail fraud:**a criminal posing as a real supplier asks for its bank details to be changed, and the next payment goes to the wrong account. ### Internal fraud - **False billing:**an employee creates invoices for payment to themselves, alone or with an outside party. - **Unauthorized payments:**payments released outside the approval process, by check or automated clearing house (ACH) transfer. - **Tampering with records:**changes to financial data after payment to hide what happened. Internal fraud is the hardest to detect because the people involved know the controls. Separation of duties is the basic defense: the person who sets up a supplier should not approve its invoices or release its payments. ## Risk three: poor payment visibility Manual processes leave invoice status in people's heads and inboxes. Suppliers call to ask when they will be paid, and someone has to look it up. Finance cannot see accrued liabilities clearly, so forecasting is weaker and the close takes longer. And when an auditor asks why an invoice was paid, the answer is hard to reconstruct. ## Which controls reduce accounts payable risk? | Control | Risk it addresses | | Verify every new supplier and any change to bank details through an independent channel | Fictitious suppliers, bank detail fraud | | --- | --- | | Restrict who can create or edit supplier records | Internal fraud, duplicate suppliers | | Receive invoices digitally through one channel | Missed due dates, duplicates | | Match invoices to purchase orders, receipts and contract rates | Overbilling, false billing | | Route approvals automatically with limits by amount | Unauthorized payments | | Check for duplicates on supplier, amount, date and reference | Duplicate payments | | Keep a complete audit trail of every change and approval | Tampering, audit risk | | Report on invoice status and exceptions regularly | Poor visibility, slow close | ### Verify suppliers before they are paid Only approved and verified suppliers should exist in the vendor master. Check tax IDs, addresses and bank details at onboarding, and treat any later change to bank details as a high risk event that needs confirmation through a known contact. Controlled [vendor onboarding](https://aavenir.com/glossary/vendor-onboarding/) with [Onboardingflow](https://aavenir.com/solutions/vendor-onboarding-software/) keeps this consistent. ### Move accounts payable to a digital process Paper invoices get lost, delayed and copied. A digital process captures each invoice once, keeps it in one place and makes every step traceable. ### Automate approval routing Automated routing sends each invoice to the right approver based on amount, department and category, with limits that add a second approver above set thresholds. Every approval is time stamped, so finance leaders can see who approved what and when. ### Use AI to watch for anomalies AI review can flag duplicates, charges above contract rates, unusual amounts and new suppliers with unusual patterns. In [Invoiceflow](https://aavenir.com/solutions/accounts-payable-automation/), Aavenir AI checks each invoice against the purchase order, receipt and contract and raises exceptions for an accounts payable specialist to decide. A person approves every flagged item. **See accounts payable controls on your own process**We will walk through intake, matching, approval limits and audit trails in Invoiceflow, on ServiceNow or standalone. Schedule a demo ### Audit and improve continuously Review transactions regularly, run random audits and keep searchable electronic audit trails of every invoice and payment. Use reporting on exceptions, approval times and late payments to find weak points and fix them one at a time. ## The bottom line Accounts payable risk comes from three places: invoices paid late, payments that should never have been made, and too little visibility into what is owed. Verify suppliers, take invoices in digitally, match them to orders and contracts, route approvals with limits and keep a full audit trail. ### In this article - Risk one: missed invoice due dates - Risk two: fraud and malpractice - Risk three: poor payment visibility - Which controls reduce accounts payable risk? **Reduce accounts payable risk with Invoiceflow**Digital intake, contract matching, approval limits and audit trails, with a person deciding every exception. Share [in](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Faavenir.com%2Fhow-to-guard-organisations-against-accounts-payable-risks%2F)[X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Faavenir.com%2Fhow-to-guard-organisations-against-accounts-payable-risks%2F&text=How%20to%20guard%20organizations%20against%20accounts%20payable%20risks) Frequently asked questions (FAQ) ## Frequently asked questions ### ### What are the biggest risks in accounts payable? The main risks are missed due dates that bring fees and lost discounts, fraud from fake suppliers, bank detail changes or false internal billing, and poor visibility into invoice status that weakens forecasting and the close. Each has clear controls. See [Invoiceflow](https://aavenir.com/solutions/accounts-payable-automation/) for how they are automated. ### ### How can companies prevent accounts payable fraud? Verify every supplier and bank detail change through an independent channel, separate the duties of creating suppliers, approving invoices and releasing payments, match invoices to orders and contracts, and keep a full audit trail. AI review can flag anomalies for a person. Learn about [vendor risk assessment](https://aavenir.com/glossary/vendor-risk-assessment/). ### ### Why does invoice visibility matter in accounts payable? When invoice status is visible, suppliers get answers without chasing, treasury can forecast cash accurately and finance can close the books faster. It also makes audits easier, because every approval and change is recorded in one place. Read more about [accounts payable](https://aavenir.com/glossary/accounts-payable-ap/). Have a question we have not answered? [Ask the Expert](https://aavenir.com/contact/) ## Keep reading [Accounts payable How to deal with duplicate invoices Why duplicate invoices get paid, the warning signs accounts payable should watch for, and the controls that stop a second payment before it leaves the bank. Read more](https://aavenir.com/how-to-deal-with-duplicate-invoices/)[Accounts payable How to maximize the value of your invoice audit against contract An invoice audit against the contract checks rates, scope and terms before or after payment. The common findings, the steps, and how to run it on every invoice. Read more](https://aavenir.com/how-to-maximize-the-value-of-your-invoice-audit-against-contract/)[Accounts payable Manage cash flow with accounts payable automation How automating accounts payable improves cash flow: faster invoice processing, fewer errors, clear visibility, quicker approvals and better forecasting. Read more](https://aavenir.com/manage-cash-flow-with-ap-automation-a-game-changer-for-businesses/) Schedule a demo ## See your contracts run on one record. - **1****A 30 minute walkthrough**Built around your team, whether that is procurement, legal, IT or finance. - **2****Your contracts, not ours**Bring a few sample agreements and watch Aavenir AI extract and review them. - **3****ServiceNow or standalone**We show the deployment that fits the systems you already run. Prefer to talk first? [Contact the team](https://aavenir.com/contact/). The form did not load. [Contact the team](https://aavenir.com/contact/) instead, or refresh the page.