Edam-Volendam
Edam-Volendam is a municipality in the northeast of the Waterland region, in the Dutch province of North Holland, situated along the Markermeer. It has a population of 36,445, with approximately 22,500 residents in Volendam and around 7,000 in Edam.
The challenge:
The municipality of Edam-Volendam, a growing organization, was looking for a way to gain assurance over its outgoing financial flows through an independent system. The annual financial statement process was time-consuming, especially during audits, where much time was spent substantiating outgoing payments. Each year, the municipality had to hire additional support to provide the necessary documentation to the auditor.
What we did:
Since 2022, SafeSpend has been integrated into the municipality's payment process. Before the second signature is added, payment batches are imported into SafeSpend. The steps of the audit program are then systematically followed. This process identifies any irregularities before they can become problems, helping to avoid workload spikes during the audit period. The auditor now has continuous insight into all outgoing payments.
The result:
The implementation of SafeSpend has led to significant cost savings for the municipality of Edam-Volendam. In the past, they had to provide 300 documents—such as invoices, payment batches, payment advice lists, and bank statements—for sample testing. That is no longer necessary. The control over outgoing financial flows gives the organization far greater assurance. Mistakes can now be detected and corrected internally before payments are executed, resulting in a significant improvement in efficiency and peace of mind.