Liz Fourie, Manager of Corporate Services at Berri Barmera Council, explains how Eftsure prevented them from making a $125k incorrect payment and transformed their supplier management process, making it more secure and efficient.
Overview
The Berri Barmera Council is in the Riverland region of South Australia. The Riverland population is approximately 33,000, while the Berri Barmera Council population sits around 10,500. The Berri Barmera Council area incorporates the townships of Barmera, Berri, Cobdogla, Glossop, Loveday, Monash, Overland Corner and Winkie. Berri has traditionally serviced the region for state and federal government services.
There’s one thing you want to avoid and that’s hitting the front page of the newspapers for all the wrong reasons.
Challenge
Liz begins by sharing how frequently the Council was receiving fraudulent emails requesting to change bank account details, including one that could have caused a loss of $35,000 in an incorrect termination payout. Internal fears were growing around the sophistication of cyber-attacks and the financial losses they could cause – not to mention the reputational damage, which is especially risky for a Council that depends so heavily on public trust. With a need to protect the Council’s bottom line and a drive to tick off the auditors' compliance checklist, it was time to upgrade their security and compliance measures.
Approach
Liz, a forward-thinking innovator at the Council, strived to do everything proactively rather than reactively. They needed a solution that would not only tackle the fraud risk but also satisfy the stringent demands of their auditors. Enter Eftsure. Liz chose Eftsure for its reputation in providing robust, real-time payment protection. Her vision was clear: a secure process that left no room for error and could demonstrate a high level of due diligence. "There's no payment that goes through that hasn't been checked," says Liz.
Results
Within just months of having the software implemented, the team were running their usual payments and came across a red thumb next to a supplier. With the payment being for $125,000 and the thumb symbolising a mismatch in information, Liz quickly put a halt to the payment and began an investigation. It wasn’t long before they identified the supplier they were paying had undergone ownership changes and the account they were about to pay was, in fact, the incorrect one. Even thought it wasn’t attempted fraud, it was still an error that could have caused serious financial and reputational harm.
