Fraud prevention is not a single action nor a once-a-year topic. While fraudsters constantly test new tactics, companies can significantly reduce their risks by combining people, processes, and technology into a unified, fraud-resistant culture. Fraud Awareness Week is a good reminder — but real protection happens every day, in every department.

Strong processes: the foundation of internal control

Technology can detect and prevent fraud, but it is people and processes that make those safeguards work. A resilient company culture starts with clear responsibilities, transparent workflows, and continuous awareness.

Segregation of duties: reducing internal fraud risk
Fraud thrives where one person holds too much unchecked power.
That’s why segregation of duties (SoD) is a fundamental internal control principle.
In a well-designed accounts payable process, no single employee should be able to:

create or modify a vendor,
approve invoices,
and authorize payments.

In Telema eFlow, preventive and detective controls work together:

Preventive control: Approval workflows ensure only authorized managers can approve invoices.
Detective control: Audit trails record every change, approval, and exception, enabling full transparency and traceability.

This combination ensures that every transaction is properly reviewed and confirmed by the right people.

Secure vendor onboarding: stopping external fraud early

Many fraud cases begin with weak vendor onboarding. Fake suppliers, altered bank accounts, or spoofed company identities can enter the payment process if controls are missing.

Telema eFlow supports secure vendor verification by:

Checking new vendors against existing master data,
Highlighting unfamiliar or first-time vendors,
Ensuring bank account details match stored records,
Triggering alerts when payment details change.

These checks help ensure you pay only legitimate suppliers — not someone impersonating them.

Purchase orders & invoice matching: paying only what you ordered

A purchase order (PO) formalizes what a company commits to buy. Matching invoices to POs ensures payment is made only for goods or services that were actually ordered and delivered.

Telema MatchFlow automates this process:

The system matches invoice data with the PO and delivery documents,
Price and quantity discrepancies are highlighted automatically,
Matched invoices move forward quickly and safely to payment.

This 3-way match (PO → delivery → invoice) adds a powerful layer of protection and reduces manual workload.

The human element: awareness, training, and speaking up

Even the best systems can’t prevent fraud if people aren’t alert. Fraud awareness should be a normal part of company culture — not a sign of mistrust, but a sign of maturity.