To onboard suppliers faster without raising fraud risk, ask for a standard pack sized to each supplier's risk, check the documents automatically as they come in, verify bank details by calling a number you already hold, set each supplier up once in one place, and keep the vendor master clean. Speed comes from removing the back-and-forth. Safety comes from never trusting bank details that arrived by email.
Why both matter
Onboarding is slow almost everywhere. In Graphite Connect's 2026 benchmarking report (Graphite sells onboarding software), the average across nearly 70 organizations was 18.8 days, with some taking more than 91. Nearly half (47%) rated their confidence in their own supplier data as neutral or lower.
It is also where payment fraud gets in. In the AFP's 2026 Payments Fraud and Control Survey of 465 treasury practitioners, 76% of US organizations experienced attempted or actual payments fraud in 2025, and 74% were affected by business email compromise. A fake bank change request on a convincing email is one of the most common versions.
Step 1: Standardize the onboarding pack by supplier risk
Not every supplier needs the same checks. Set three tiers and a fixed pack for each:
| Tier | Example | What to collect |
|---|---|---|
| Low | One-off purchase, small spend | Legal name, address, tax form, bank details |
| Standard | Regular supplier of goods or services | The above, plus insurance certificate and contract terms |
| High | Access to your data or sites, critical supply, large spend | The above, plus security assessment such as a SOC 2 report, financial checks and named contacts |
In the US, the tax form is usually a W-9 for domestic suppliers or a W-8 for foreign ones. In Canada, collect the business number and GST/HST registration where it applies. Screen every supplier against the sanctions lists that apply to you, such as OFAC's in the US and Canada's consolidated sanctions list.
Step 2: Collect and check documents automatically
Send one request with one checklist, and check each item as it comes back:
- Does the tax ID match the legal name? US payers who file 1099s can use the IRS TIN Matching program.
- Is the insurance certificate in date, and do the limits meet your requirement?
- Is anything missing? Chase it automatically, with a deadline.
- Does the supplier already exist in your system under another name?
Most of the delay in onboarding is waiting for missing items and re-asking for the same information. Checking on arrival removes most of it.
Step 3: Verify bank details outside email
This is the step not to automate away. For any new bank account, and any change to an existing one:
- Call the supplier on a phone number you already hold, from the contract, an earlier invoice or your records. Never use a number given in the email or form that asks for the change.
- Ask them to confirm the details, rather than reading the details out to them.
- Have a second person approve the change in the system.
- Hold payments to the new account until verification is recorded.
Treat urgency as a warning sign. A request to change bank details "before Friday's payment run" is the classic pattern.
Step 4: Set each supplier up once, in one place
One team or one process creates vendor records. Before creating one, check for duplicates on tax ID, name, address and bank account. Required fields are enforced, approvals are recorded, and the record syncs to the ERP rather than being keyed twice.
Step 5: Keep the vendor master clean
IOFM reports that inactive vendors make up more than half of most vendor master files. Top performers keep the share to 24% by deactivating vendors after 12 to 18 months without activity. Inactive records are a fraud risk: a dormant supplier is an easy identity to borrow.
Each quarter, deactivate dormant vendors, merge duplicates, and re-verify bank details for any vendor you reactivate. Track onboarding cycle time, the share of active vendors, duplicates found and bank changes verified.
Where AI agents fit
Agents are well suited to Steps 2 and 4 and the clean-up in Step 5: sending requests, checking documents, matching tax IDs, screening, chasing missing items and preparing the vendor record. People approve high-risk suppliers and every bank change. In our business operations service, onboarding is measured on time to onboard and rework, and every check is recorded in the Evidence File.