How amount analysis can prevent erroneous payments
A recent incident in Apeldoorn has highlighted the power of preventive controls. Due to an error, the municipality of Apeldoorn paid out nearly €600,000 too much in energy subsidies, with 228 residents each receiving €800 instead of the intended €350. This error only came to light after the payments had been made.
This underscores the crucial need for preventive controls — a specialty of SafeSpend.
Our suite performs various checks before every payment. One of these checks involves analyzing the type of amounts. We use advanced methods such as clustering of historical transactions using the DBscan method and identification of deviating payments per counterparty using the standard deviation method. An unintended increase from €350 to €800? With SafeSpend, this would have been immediately flagged.
By analyzing types of batches and the associated data, we quickly recognize data clusters. In the case of energy subsidies or benefits where amounts often grow slowly, a significant deviation stands out immediately. As the example below shows, an overly large deviation is recognized. Even if it involves small amounts, small deviations on large numbers quickly lead to major damage. SafeSpend helps you prevent this proactively.
