AP teams face rising fraud risk as AI reshapes role

Finance and technology specialists are marking National Accounts Payable Day with warnings about rising fraud risks and calls to rethink the accounts payable function strategically.

The annual observance has prompted senior finance leaders to highlight how automation and artificial intelligence are reshaping a function many organisations still treat as back-office administration.

Accounts payable teams sit at the centre of an organisation's payment flows, supplier relationships and cash management. When they operate smoothly, suppliers are paid promptly, and operational disruption stays low. When processes fail, the result can be strained vendor relationships, stalled approvals and weaker visibility into cash.

Fraud has become a particular concern. Finance leaders say attackers now use AI tools to generate convincing fake invoices and spoof supplier communications, increasing pressure on existing AP controls.

Tali Landau-Ofer, Vice President of Finance at Trustmi, said many traditional safeguards lag behind modern attack methods.

"On National Accounts Payable Day, we recognise the professionals who play a critical role in protecting the financial integrity of every organisation. These team members are not only managing cash flow and vendor invoices, but often serve as the first line of defence against payment and invoice fraud," said  Landau-Ofer.

"With AI, fraudsters are executing highly realistic attacks at scale, generating fake invoices and slipping into vendor communications to trick accounts payable teams. For years, most accounts payable teams have maintained financial safeguards such as invoice matching and periodic audits. But these controls have quickly become outdated. They were designed to validate transactions, not detect manipulation. That's what allows modern invoice fraud to succeed.

"This National Accounts Payable Day, finance and security leaders should recognise the importance of giving AP teams the visibility, processes and support they need to mitigate risk, including understanding how payment requests behave across systems and over time."

Her comments reflect broader concern that controls built around static checks struggle against dynamic, data-driven attacks. Finance and security leaders are reviewing how they monitor behaviour across payment systems and how quickly they can spot anomalies.

At the same time, accounts payable professionals face changing expectations as AI and automation spread through finance operations.

James Kearns, an executive at document management specialist Kefron, noted that AP has long been under-recognised despite its role in keeping supplier ecosystems functioning and business operations stable.

He said automation is shifting AP teams away from manual entry and matching toward analysis and commercial judgement. In his view, AI tools will give AP staff direct access to reporting and insights, allowing them to ask targeted questions about supplier performance, discounts and bottlenecks without relying on specialist analysts.

Kearns expects accounts payable teams to act more like finance operations intelligence units. He also linked the spread of AI to a larger AP role in fraud prevention through real-time anomaly detection and stronger controls over supplier changes and duplicate payments.

Finance leaders at content management company DocuWare also see this shift, emphasising the connection between automation, data quality and the influence of accounting staff across the organisation.

DocuWare Chief Financial Officer Benedikt Dischinger described National Accounts Payable Day as both recognition and a call to invest in modern tools across finance departments.

"National Accounts Payable Day is a moment to honour the people who keep organisations financially steady long before the numbers hit the balance sheet. Accounting teams are the quiet force behind business resilience, navigating complexity, protecting cash and ensuring every decision is grounded in truth," said Dischinger.

"What we see every day at DocuWare is that when accounting professionals are empowered with clarity and modern tools like automation and intelligent data capture, their impact becomes transformational. They turn data into insight, bottlenecks into momentum and routine processes into strategic advantage. Today truly underscores how AP shapes the organisation far beyond the numbers. By elevating accounts payable, we elevate the entire organisation and the people who keep it moving forward."