Supplier onboarding is the process of collecting, verifying and recording a new supplier's legal, tax, banking and compliance information before the first order or payment, so that the supplier enters the master data in a reliable state.
Supplier onboarding decides the quality of everything downstream, because every later invoice and payment is checked against the record created at this stage. A wrong IBAN, a duplicate supplier or a missing VAT number entered on day one becomes a payment error or a fraud opportunity months later.
A complete supplier onboarding covers five checks:
- Identity: legal name, registration number and registered address, checked against an official register
- Tax: VAT number validated, through the European Commission's VIES service for EU suppliers
- Bank details: IBAN matched to the supplier's legal name; since 9 October 2025, banks in the euro area must offer verification of payee on standard and instant credit transfers
- Compliance: in France, the URSSAF vigilance certificate for contracts of at least €5,000 excluding VAT, renewed every six months, and sanctions screening where relevant
- Commercial terms: payment terms, currency, contract and approved price list
Supplier onboarding is also where fraud is cheapest to stop. A fictitious supplier, or a real one whose bank details are changed by an impostor, is far harder to catch once payments are running. Supplier risk assessment then keeps the review going for the rest of the relationship.
Phacet agents support onboarding and keep the result valid. The agent that cleans and enriches the supplier database detects duplicates and incomplete records in the supplier master data, and the agent that detects fake IBAN fraud checks every bank detail change against the verified record. Each new supplier then reaches invoice checks and payment approval with data the finance team can trust.
