AI agents for business finance: what they can and can't do
What AI agents can do in bookkeeping, close, collections and compliance today, where a person must stay in charge, and how to judge a product.
The short answer
Put every payment to Nigeria above a threshold you choose behind two approvers, hold new or changed payees until someone confirms them by calling a number already on file, and give each user a payment limit. Nacha's 2024 business email compromise action plan recommends exactly this: dual approval above set thresholds and confirming any payment change outside the channel that asked for it.
Why payments to Nigeria need their own rules
Most US small businesses set up approvals for domestic bills and then add Nigerian payments as an afterthought. The risk profile is different. A payment to a Nigerian bank account is usually final once it lands, the payee is often known only by email or WhatsApp, and the person raising the payment may be in Lagos while the person who should check it is asleep in New York. Fraudsters rely on that gap.
The scale is not small. Nacha's 2024 action plan on business email compromise cites FBI IC3 figures putting 2023 losses from that one fraud type at about $2.9 billion. On the Nigerian side, the CBN raised the maximum for its secured online transfers to ₦25 million for individuals and ₦250 million for corporates in a 2022 circular, as reported at the time, so a single corporate instruction can move a large sum. Controls have to sit before the money leaves, not after.
The control set
| Control | What it stops | How to set it |
|---|---|---|
| Two-person approval above a threshold | One compromised or careless user sending a large payment | Maker raises, a different person approves; nobody approves their own payment |
| New payee hold | Payments to an account added the same day by a fraudster | New beneficiaries wait until a second person confirms them |
| Change-of-details call-back | Fake "our bank details have changed" emails | Call the vendor on a number already in your records, never one in the message |
| Per-user and daily limits | A single login draining the account | Lower limits for staff who raise payments, higher for approvers |
| Separate approval for currency conversion | Converting dollars to naira at a bad moment or for a fake payment | Treat a conversion as a payment decision with its own approver |
| Out-of-hours rule | Urgent requests timed for when the approver cannot check | Above the threshold, nothing is approved outside agreed windows |
Nacha's plan also flags urgency itself as a warning sign, and notes that caller ID can be spoofed. A call-back only works if you dial a number you already held before the request arrived.
Choosing thresholds: a worked example
Thresholds should follow your real payment pattern, not a round number someone picked. Look at three months of payments to Nigeria, sort them by size, and set the line so routine small payments flow while anything unusual meets a second pair of eyes.
- Example business
- A US company with a Lagos office paying about 30 suppliers and contractors a month
- Under ₦500,000 (example)
- One approver, to an existing payee only
- ₦500,000 to ₦5,000,000 (example)
- Maker plus one approver in a different role
- Above ₦5,000,000 (example)
- Maker plus two approvers, one of them a director
- Any new or changed payee
- Call-back recorded before the first payment, whatever the amount
Watch for splitting. Five payments of ₦450,000 to the same new account in a day add up to ₦2,250,000 and should trigger the same review as one payment of that size. A daily total per payee is the simplest guard.
Approvals across two time zones
Lagos runs on West Africa Time, UTC+1, with no daylight saving. New York moves its clocks: under US rules daylight saving begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, which NIST gives as 8 March to 1 November in 2026. Lagos is therefore five hours ahead of New York for most of the year and six hours ahead in winter.
A payment raised at 4pm in Lagos reaches a New York approver at 11am in summer and 10am in winter; one raised at 9am in Lagos lands at 4am or 3am. Agree two approval windows a day that both teams can hit, and tell suppliers when payments are released. A request that cannot wait for a window is exactly the kind that deserves more scrutiny. See time zones and cut-offs for bank deadlines.
Records that prove the controls worked
An approval that leaves no trace is of little use to an auditor, an insurer or a court. Keep, for each payment, who raised it, who approved it and when, the invoice or contract it relates to, and the note of any call-back. The IRS says records generally need keeping for three years, four years for employment tax records and longer in some cases, so store approval logs with the payment records rather than in a chat thread. Approvals given by WhatsApp are hard to evidence; see payment approvals by WhatsApp.
What to set up first
- List everyone who can raise, approve or add payees, in both countries.
- Remove anyone who can do all three alone; see segregation of duties in a two-person office.
- Set the thresholds from your own payment history.
- Write the call-back rule down and keep a verified phone list for every vendor.
- Agree the daily approval windows and tell staff and suppliers.
- Review the log monthly for split payments and late-night approvals.
Where Pryme fits
A Pryme Business Account uses an authenticator app rather than SMS codes, and a transaction PIN to authorise payments. Its business agents prepare payment runs; anything above the ceiling you set needs a person's approval, and actions are recorded. See security and the Finance agent. Outside Nigeria, services are provided through regulated partners.
Questions people ask
What is dual approval for payments?
One person creates the payment and a different person approves it before it is sent. Nobody can approve a payment they raised themselves.
What threshold should I set for dual approval on payments to Nigeria?
Base it on your own payment history so routine small payments flow and anything unusual gets a second check. Also cap the daily total per payee to stop split payments.
How do I verify a Nigerian supplier's new bank details?
Call the supplier on a phone number you already had before the request, not one in the email or message, and record the call before paying.
What time difference is there between Lagos and New York?
Lagos is on UTC+1 all year. It is five hours ahead of New York during US daylight saving (8 March to 1 November in 2026) and six hours ahead otherwise.
Sources
- Nacha: Business Email Compromise Action Plan (2024) · accessed Oct 2026
- Brandcom: CBN increases online transfer limit to N25 million (7 Jun 2022) · accessed Oct 2026
- NIST: Daylight saving time (DST) · accessed Oct 2026
- timeanddate.com: WAT, West Africa Time (UTC+1) · accessed Oct 2026
- IRS: How long should I keep records? (reviewed 30 Jun 2026) · accessed Oct 2026
This article is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Products described are provided under the terms on this site and are subject to regulation and eligibility.