Leading Your AP Team Through Automation: Managing the Human Side of AI
Release Date: 10/21/2026
Leading Your AP Team Through Automation: Managing the Human Side of AI
The IOFM Podcast
In this episode, AP leader and consultant Nicole returns to join host Grace Berube to discuss how leaders can guide their teams through automation and AI. Nicole explains why this wave of automation feels different from earlier ones like OCR and workflow: instead of replacing discrete tasks, AI is moving into judgment, exception handling, and decision-making, which feels closer to people’s identity. She describes the quiet anxiety leaders often encounter when automation is announced, why pushback is better treated as data than defiance, and how honest, consistent communication builds trust....
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Inside the AP Fraud Bootcamp: Four Cases Worth Learning From
The IOFM Podcast
In this episode, AP expert Debra Richardson joins host Grace Berube to review real, anonymous fraud cases submitted by attendees of the AP Fraud Bootcamp session and the lessons AP teams can take from them. Debra shares what the submissions revealed about the industries, systems, and vendor volumes involved, then walks through four cases: a bank change request where the confirmation call reached the wrong person, an attempted scheme built on a fake CEO message sent through WhatsApp, a $100,000 fraud avoided thanks to a successful confirmation call, and a $600,000 loss tied to a vendor...
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CPRS Certification Update: What to Know Before You Enroll
The IOFM Podcast
In this episode, IOFM trainer Jason Dinesen rejoins host Grace Berube to give an update on the Certified Payment Reporting Specialist (CPRS) certification, which focuses on 1099 reporting. Jason explains that the program is designed to help participants understand the issues, know where to look for answers, and become the go-to person for information reporting in their organization. He describes how the course flow is refined to match an AP professional’s day-to-day experience, which topics form the core of the curriculum, and what is new for 2026, including the move from FIRE to IRIS and...
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Inside IOFM’s Vendor Management & Fraud Prevention Workshops
The IOFM Podcast
In this episode, AP expert Debra Richardson joins host Grace Berube to walk through the five sessions she is presenting in 2026 on vendor management and fraud prevention — four of which are new. All five connect in some way to fraud, covering everything from hands-on workshops on vendor authentication and process design, to a specialist-focused session on daily fraud prevention, a cross-departmental look at how other teams can inadvertently undermine vendor controls, and a crowd-sourced session where attendees share their own real fraud experiences and get peer and expert feedback in real...
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Don’t Panic! A Guide to 1099 Errors for AP Teams
The IOFM Podcast
In this episode, compliance expert Jason Dinesen joins host Grace Berube to walk through what AP teams should do when they discover an error on a filed 1099 or realize they missed filing one altogether. Jason explains how the IRS’s matching process actually works, which errors matter and which ones don’t, and how the penalty structure gives teams more breathing room than they might expect. He also covers what happens when a form should have been filed but wasn’t and closes with a brief history lesson on the 1099’s void box. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE Why the IRS files 1099s...
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AI-Powered Fraud: What AP Teams Are Up Against
The IOFM Podcast
In this episode, fraud expert Paul Zikmund joins host Grace Berube to walk through four AI-driven fraud schemes that are reshaping the threat landscape for AP teams. From deepfake voice calls impersonating executives to business email compromise powered by large language models, phantom vendors with entirely fabricated online identities, and AI bots quietly submitting small invoices at scale, Paul breaks down how each scheme works, what real-world losses have looked like, and what AP professionals can do — both with traditional controls and new AI-detection tools — to stay ahead of...
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Three Vendor Audits Every AP Team Should Be Running
The IOFM Podcast
In this episode, AP expert Debra Richardson joins host Grace Berube to walk through three audits every vendor team should have in place to reduce fraud exposure. Using the real-world case of a Facebook diversity manager who stole nearly $5 million by exploiting gaps in vendor creation and invoice approval, Debra explains how segregation of duties, security access, and vendor process compliance each address a distinct vulnerability — and why doing only one or two of the three still leaves the door open. She also covers new NACHA fraud monitoring requirements taking effect in 2026 that make...
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Five Ways to Improve Your Information Reporting in 2026
The IOFM Podcast
In this episode, compliance expert Jason Dinesen joins host Grace Berube to share five practical steps AP teams can take to strengthen their information reporting processes. With 1099 season behind them, Jason walks through foundational W-9 habits, a pair of new Treasury regulations on cloud transactions, the IRS’s plan to retire the FIRE e-filing system, the growing complexity of state 1099 filing obligations, and the value of having written procedures in place before the next reporting cycle begins. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE Why collecting W-9s remains the most foundational...
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W-9 Collection: Five Bad Habits Putting Your Vendor Data at Risk
The IOFM Podcast
In this episode of The IOFM Podcast, Debra Richardson joins host Grace Berube to discuss the year-round importance of W-9 collection and what a new IRS draft form could mean for AP teams. The key change in the draft: sole proprietors, who previously could supply either a Social Security Number or an EIN, would now be required to provide only an SSN — potentially triggering a mass recollection effort from existing vendors. With sensitive data like SSNs on the line, Debra walks through five common but risky habits AP teams fall into when collecting W-9s, from using unsecured email to routing...
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Not Your Parents’ Better Business Bureau: Top BBB Tools to Stop Fraud
The IOFM Podcast
When you think of the Better Business Bureau, you might picture the place your grandparents went to find a plumber. But today’s BBB is so much more: it’s a modern fraud-fighting resource for both consumers and businesses. In this episode, Grace sits down with fraud expert Debra Richardson to explore how the BBB has evolved from its 1912 roots into a critical tool for stopping scams before they hit your bottom line. From the powerful BBB Scam Tracker, a free national database of nearly 521,000 reported scams, to weekly scam alert emails, localized fraud education, and resources for...
info_outlineIn this episode, AP leader and consultant Nicole returns to join host Grace Berube to discuss how leaders can guide their teams through automation and AI. Nicole explains why this wave of automation feels different from earlier ones like OCR and workflow: instead of replacing discrete tasks, AI is moving into judgment, exception handling, and decision-making, which feels closer to people’s identity. She describes the quiet anxiety leaders often encounter when automation is announced, why pushback is better treated as data than defiance, and how honest, consistent communication builds trust. Nicole also shares ways to keep teams engaged, how to handle a leader’s own nerves, and four steps to take now if a rollout is coming.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- Why today’s automation wave raises different questions than earlier ones, shifting from “what do I do all day” to “what am I here for” as AI, including agentic AI, takes on judgment and decision-making.
- What to expect when automation is announced, including the quiet anxiety that often shows up as silence, and why leaders should plan their messaging for skepticism and concern about personal security.
- How to reframe pushback as data rather than defiance, since nitpicking a new process is often anxiety about role and identity that has nowhere else to go.
- How to have honest conversations about changing roles, including saying what you know, what you don’t, and what you will find out, and why silence and ambiguity invite worst-case assumptions.
- How to keep a team engaged through change by using influencers as peer champions, delivering small, visible wins, and checking in on how people feel rather than only on training completion.
- How leaders can handle their own nerves by being open about their concerns, and by shifting the question from “will I be needed” to “what will I need to be good at going forward.”
- Four steps to take before a rollout: start the conversation early, ask your team what automation means for their roles, identify and empower a champion, and set up a recurring check-in.