Aussie small businesses fighting invoice fraud with simple tool

Australian businesses are turning to payment-automation software to reduce the risk of human error and fraud when paying invoices. (Source: Getty)

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, there has been a sharp rise in invoice fraud, or payment-redirection scams, which cost Aussie small businesses $14 million in losses in 2020 alone, according to Scamwatch.

Invoicing and paying bills manually, meanwhile, can take valuable hours away from core business activities and poses a risk due to potential human error.

• Also read: Aussies need $6,442 pay rise to keep up with cost of living

• Also read: RBA likely to keep interest rates on hold again in May

• Also read: Facebook scam: Aussies warned over dangerous Marketplace trick

To protect business owners from scammers and to help them avoid costly mistakes, financial-management platform Thriday has launched Bill Manager, which automates the payment process.

Research conducted by Thriday found 84 per cent of businesses were worried about inputting incorrect payment information when paying bills. The study, which surveyed 180 businesses, also found 35 per cent often paid bills late unintentionally.

Thriday's Bill Manager feature is designed to automate the payment process for businesses. (Source: Thriday)

Thriday's CEO Michael Nuciforo said Bill Manager made paying invoices effortless and safe by ensuring payments were made on time and only to approved billers.

"We're thrilled to bring this innovative and secure solution to our customers. Bill Manager is a game changer that streamlines financial management for our customers, saving them time and reducing the risk of errors and fraud," Nuciforo said.

How Bill Manager works

With Bill Manager, users can save their bills or invoices to Thriday through the app or email. Optical character recognition (OCR) technology will then extract key information from the document, so no manual data entry is required.

The automated platform then matches the bill to its corresponding account and automatically schedules payment on the required due date, saving users time and effort.

Bill Manager is now available for all Thriday customers at no additional cost. Businesses can join Thriday free or register for a premium subscription starting at $29.95 per month.

Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to our free daily newsletter.