Tag: Ryan Mer

Internal controls are an essential component of any financial management system. It helps your organisation retain financial integrity, meet regulatory requirements, and compile reports essential for improving the business. These processes are especially crucial in accounts payable (AP) departments to manage financial transactions and ensure that payments are authorised, accurate and properly documented.

Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) not only have a serious fiduciary duty to themselves as individuals, but they also have a responsibility to their employer to ensure that every step of every financial process is in order and above board. The consequences of financial mismanagement are multiple – again, individually as well as for the company.

Don’t let your business be punished for, and by cyber fraud. As the business landscape rapidly evolves, a general awareness of security vulnerabilities is no longer enough. Cyber fraud, data and payment breach risks need to be managed urgently and strategically with the right tools. 

The rise in finance and accounting cybercrime through phishing and Business Email Compromise (BEC) has made headlines with massive implications for South African companies with gaps in their payment systems. However, robust financial controls together with strong server, IT, and email monitoring processes aren’t enough if staff aren’t savvy to the psychological tricks scammers use to manipulate people, making them more vulnerable to tricker and deception.

The use of spreadsheets in accounting and finance departments has vastly improved data analysis and enabled fast and accurate reporting, computing and information storage. Life without them is almost unthinkable. However, danger lurks within and although the use of macros in Excel to automate processes can enhance efficiency, macro malware can put your entire business at risk.

The social and economic impact of COVID-19 has led to a marked increase in opportunistic crimes of desperation, particularly in digital payments fraud as consumers flock to digital channels to replace or supplement in-person interactions.

International Fraud Awareness Week is taking place from 14-20 November, highlighting an increasing problem that organisations around the world are facing. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), businesses lose around 5% of their annual revenue globally due to fraudulent behaviour, which experts estimate amounts to a total annual loss around the world of $3.7 trillion.

Business Email Compromise (BEC) and cyber attacks are on the increase worldwide. Conveyancing firms, their clients, and other organisations effecting many large non-recurring type transactions are particularly vulnerable to BEC fraud.