Vendor Payment Change Escalation for Executive Assistants

vendor payment change escalation for executive assistants

Executive assistants are often copied when a vendor says a bank account changed, an invoice must be paid today, or the executive needs to approve an exception. The message may be legitimate, mistaken, or malicious. The assistant should preserve the deadline and relationship without validating financial instructions through the same channel that delivered them.

Pause the requested change

Do not edit vendor records, forward bank details, or seek a casual approval in chat. Preserve the original message under the company's reporting procedure and notify the finance or security owner. Urgency is information to escalate, not authority to bypass controls. Avoid opening unexpected attachments or following login links while assessing the request.

Verify through an established contact route

Use the vendor master record, prior verified contract contact, procurement system, or another channel approved by finance. Do not call a number or reply address supplied only in the change request. Ask whether a change was initiated and which authorized process should carry it. Share only the minimum detail needed to confirm identity and intent.

Keep approval and system access separated

Route the verified request to the employees authorized to review documentation, approve the change, and update the system. One person should not become requester, verifier, approver, and editor simply because the executive is traveling. The assistant can coordinate the timeline and executive decision when policy requires it without handling credentials or entering banking data.

Close every duplicate path

After finance resolves the matter, remove temporary holds, correct calendar reminders, and tell the relationship owner what the vendor should expect. If the message was suspicious, follow security instructions for reporting and future contact. Record the outcome without reproducing full account information in a general task system or executive briefing.

Review the handoff against real work

Review the case with finance and security after closure. Determine whether the trusted contact was easy to find, whether the vendor knew the proper change channel, and where urgency reached the executive. Improve the directory or intake route rather than teaching the assistant to make sharper fraud judgments alone. Durable controls should work on an ordinary busy day.

Questions to settle before execution

Can the executive approve by text?

Only if company policy recognizes that method and required independent controls are still completed.

What if the vendor deadline is today?

Tell finance the verified consequence and let the authorized owner choose under the exception process.

Should the assistant contact the sender?

Use a trusted vendor record or internal sponsor, not contact details introduced by the questioned message.

Source and service boundaries

CISA recommends recognizing common phishing signals, resisting urgency, and reporting suspicious messages through trusted channels. Organizations can include these boundaries in an executive communications support role, use our assistant hiring guide, or contact us to discuss escalation coverage. Source: CISA phishing guidance.