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
On or before a staff member's last day, remove their bank roles and tokens, change shared passwords, close their email and system accounts, recover devices, keys and company SIMs, and tell your bank, key suppliers and customers who now speaks for the business. Then settle final pay, including pro-rata holiday pay under the Labour Act, and remit the last pension contributions.
When someone leaves a Nigerian business run from abroad, the owner is often the last to know which systems they could reach. The departing accounts officer may still be an approver on internet banking; the sales manager may hold the WhatsApp Business number customers use; the former driver may still have a gate remote. Most offboarding failures are not malice, just access nobody remembered to remove. A written checklist, run every time, closes that gap.
Before the last day
- Agree the leaving date and notice. Under section 11 of the Labour Act the minimum notice runs from one day (three months' service or less) to one month (five years or more), unless the contract gives more; either side may waive notice or accept pay in lieu.
- Plan the handover: open tasks, supplier and customer contacts, passwords held, documents and files.
- For sensitive roles (finance, IT, anyone who can move money), decide whether access goes when notice is given rather than on the last day.
The access checklist
| Area | Action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Bank mandate | Remove as signatory by board resolution and updated mandate | Owner / company secretary |
| Internet banking | Delete initiator or approver role; recover hardware tokens; deactivate soft tokens | Bank relationship officer |
| Payment apps and wallets | Remove user; change transaction PINs they knew | Finance lead |
| Email and cloud files | Disable account, forward mail to a manager, transfer file ownership | IT |
| Accounting and stock systems | Disable login; review their last week of entries | Finance lead |
| Shared passwords | Change every password they knew, including Wi-Fi and social media | IT |
| Company phone line and SIM | Recover SIM; move business number and OTPs to another person | Manager |
| Premises | Recover keys, cards and gate remotes; update security guard list | Office manager |
| Devices | Recover laptop and phone; wipe before reissue | IT |
Bank access deserves its own attention. If the person was a signatory, changing the mandate needs the bank's forms and a board resolution; see changing a bank signatory when a manager leaves. If one-time passcodes for any account go to their phone number, move them before the SIM leaves the building; SIM swap and OTP risk explains why.
Tell the outside world
- Write to your bank confirming the change of authorised persons.
- Tell key suppliers that the person no longer orders or confirms payment details for you.
- Tell key customers who their new contact is, so they do not pay on instructions from the old one.
- Update the CAC if the person was a director or company secretary.
- Update any regulator or platform where they were the named contact.
Data protection
Staff records are personal data. The Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 requires personal data to be kept no longer than necessary and secured appropriately (s.24). Keep what you need for payroll, tax and pension records and for any dispute, restrict who can see the file, and delete the rest on a schedule. Recover any customer or staff data the leaver held on personal devices and ask for written confirmation it has been deleted.
Final pay and pension
- Pay salary up to the last day, notice pay if notice was not worked, and any contractual entitlements.
- Pay pro-rata holiday pay: section 18(4) of the Labour Act gives it to a worker leaving after at least six months' continuous service.
- Deduct and remit PAYE on the final pay as normal.
- Remit the final pension contributions; the Pension Reform Act 2014, as reported by ThisDay, requires remittance within seven working days of paying salary.
- Recover any outstanding staff loan or advance as the loan agreement allows; the Labour Act restricts deductions from wages.
Worked example only: an employee earning ₦250,000 a month leaves on 15 June; the employer waives the one week's notice and pays it in lieu. Final pay is half of June (₦125,000), one week's pay in lieu (about ₦57,692, using ₦250,000 × 12 ÷ 52), and five days' accrued holiday at about ₦11,364 a day (₦250,000 ÷ 22), about ₦56,818. Total before deductions about ₦239,510. See what you owe on termination.
Keep a record
Record each completed step with the date and who did it, and have the manager sign the checklist on the last day. If a dispute arises later, or money moves from an account the leaver should no longer reach, that record shows what was removed and when. Keep it on the personnel file with the resignation or termination letter.
Where Pryme fits
In a Pryme Business Account you can remove a user's access in one place, and security uses an authenticator app rather than SMS codes, so a departing employee's SIM is not a route into the account. The Compliance agent can run the offboarding checklist and record each step for a person to confirm.
Questions people ask
How do I remove an employee from my company bank account in Nigeria?
Pass a board resolution changing the mandate, complete the bank's change-of-signatory forms, and remove their internet banking roles and tokens.
What final payments do I owe a staff member who resigns?
Salary to the last day, notice pay if applicable, pro-rata holiday pay after six months' service, and any contractual entitlements, with PAYE and pension handled as normal.
How long can I keep a former employee's data?
The NDPA 2023 says no longer than necessary. Keep what tax, pension and legal records require and delete the rest.
Should I cut access when notice is given or on the last day?
For roles that can move money or reach sensitive data, removing access when notice is given is safer; arrange supervised handover instead.
Sources
- Labour Act full text (Cap 198 LFN 1990, same Act as Cap L1 LFN 2004) · accessed Oct 2026
- Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (KPMG copy) · accessed Oct 2026
- ThisDay: CPS, what you should know about employee's rights (20 Mar 2023) · 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.