With a background as a certified fraud examiner (CFE) as well as a certified public accountant (CPA), Dawn Brolin knows a thing or two about financial fraud. So, it makes sense that when she chooses a technology partner for her accounting business, Brolin ensures security is priority number one, and Veem meets that criterion.
In addition to line of sight into both payables and receivables, Brolin points to Veem’s added layer of security in its workflow and approval solutions. She recommends her clients set up two approvals on bill payments to create an internal checks and balances over every payable.
Brolin recalls a scenario where one of her small business tax accounting clients had ties with a long- time bookkeeper, who was like a member of the family. The business owners turned over their accounting to her, trusting that she had their best interests at heart. It turned out that the bookkeeper had gotten herself into a desperate personal financial situation and was skimming money from the company by creating false invoices— a sad scenario, but a fraud situation, nonetheless.
That’s why Brolin is a big proponent of Veem’s dual signatory workflow. In the described scenario, if more than one person were authorizing invoice payments, it would have been much harder for the bookkeeper to cover up the fraud. In addition, just having that second set of eyes on all payments may have removed the temptation from the start.
“The fraud triangle just speaks volumes. They’ve got pressure, they can rationalize it, but the third thing, the opportunity, we can minimize that risk,” said Brolin. “We can take opportunity out of that conversation, and that’s what Veem does.”
“So many fraud cases that come across my desk were preventable,” Brolin said. “Businesses need to have full transparency into where they stand. With Veem, they do.”
Beyond its built-in security offerings, Veem also meets a second criteria of Brolin’s: ease of use. “If it’s not easy and smooth, it will block me from wanting to do it,” Brolin stated. “I have to have it easy, when I know I can make a payment in 10 to 15 seconds, and I can accomplish that with Veem.” That simplicity extends through the full Veem transaction, creating time savings in its QuickBooks integration and payment process. For Powerful Accounting, that extra time equates to more hours helping clients, a strategic role they relish. In fact, Veem has enabled Brolin and her team to thrive in their role as financial advisors, helping their clients to operate more efficiently.
For example, Brolin recounts the story of a real estate client with accounts at two separate financial institutions and a need to move large sums of money between the two accounts. Historically, the client was either writing checks from one account to the other or paying for wire transfers between them. Powerful Accounting stepped in and offered Veem as a simpler solution, and in doing so, gained greater line of sight into the specifics of the transaction.
“When you put it into Veem, you capture more data on the payment and why it went out than we do through a manual check or wire transfer. The more data, the better; it makes our job easier,” Brolin explained.
“ For our clients, we have thought outside-of-the-box on how to use Veem. For example, we are having a real estate client use Veem to shift money between accounts at different banks, and it probably saves us more than an hour a week.
Beyond simplicity, Brolin looks for partners she can trust, with whom she can have real relationships, and she’s found that in Veem. For example, when Powerful Accounting onboards a new Veem user, they turn that experience over to the Veem team. In addition, they rest comfortably in the knowledge that if issues arise, help is just a call or email away from Veem’s 24/7 live customer support. “I’ve always found the relationships you have with vendors are the most important when it comes to running your business, and we have a good one with Veem,” Brolin said. “And in every relationship, there are three distinct levels of criteria: the must-have things, the nice-to-have, and the things that really don’t matter. For any AP/AR application, the non-negotiables are security, ease of use, and an approval process for AP. Veem checks off all those boxes.”
Veem helps businesses save time and optimize cash flow by simplifying the way they send and receive payments domestically and internationally. Trusted by more than 500,000 users in over 100 countries, Veem uncomplicates the end-to-end AP/AR process with seamless integrations to leading accounting software, real-time tracking on payments and cost-effective, flexible payment options. Now businesses have the power to pay how they prefer and eliminate friction with customers to get paid faster. For more information or to request a demo, visit veem.com.
Veem is a global payments network built for businesses. We began in 2014 with the intention of making international money transfers as simple as purchasing a cup of coffee. Since then, we’ve revolutionized the way businesses pay and get paid around the world by empowering owners, accountants, and financial professionals to take control over their payment processes. We level the playing field by providing enterprise-level financial tools and negotiating power to the small businesses who need it most.