The regulations surrounding money laundering impose significant demands on various businesses, with accounting and auditing firms being one industry that falls under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Andreas Lidhed is one of the partners at the Jönköping-based firm in Sweden, Lidhed Boström, and he shares how they work to meet the legal requirements:
For us, two cornerstones have been particularly important. First, our focus on ensuring that all our staff members have undergone training regarding our processes within the firm, and second, the system support we use to conduct customer knowledge checks required by the law, explains Andreas.
Today, Lidhed Boström currently employs over 30 individuals in Jönköping and continues to grow organically, mostly through a good reputation and satisfied customers recommending the firm. Andreas himself is one of seven auditors who carry out numerous assignments annually.
System support for increased efficiency
We always receive valuable assistance, support, and information from the professional organization FAR regarding updates and new approaches required for us as members. When it comes to the regulations concerning money laundering, we at the firm felt the need to find robust system support to become more efficient and feel confident in our knowledge of existing and new customers.
‘’Are you interested in hearing more about how you can unlock your efficiency, reach out to us!’’
In order for firms to comply with the regulations of the Anti-Money Laundering Acts, it’s not enough to simply carry out the prescribed checks. The firm also needs to demonstrate, through documentation, for example, a checklist, the actions taken and assessments made of their unique customer base.
We always have packed schedules and are constantly in need to find new smart ways to save valuable time, which I don’t believe is unique to only our firm. So in the spring of 2022, we started looking into better system support to streamline our customer knowledge work.
The Anti-Money Laundering Act itself doesn’t explicitly require Sweden’s accounting and auditing firms ( and other entities covered by the law) to use system support to be compliant.
The portal provides relief for my colleagues
It was a given for us to explore system support to relieve our colleagues and allow them to spend more time with our customers. Without system support, how can we confidently claim that we have a complete overview of our customers, ensuring they’re not on various sanctions lists? Questions Andreas Lidhed.
The choice of system support fell on Verified’s AML portal, and the work to adapt it according to the firm’s established processes began in the summer of 2022. After onboarding and close dialogue with representatives from Verified, Andreas summarizes:
Despite being ‘’another system’’, our colleagues feel that we’re saving time and have a strong sense of security in our customer knowledge. The portal itself is intuitive and easy to adopt, becoming an integral part of our daily work.
New areas for time-saving and happier customers
However, the effort to save time and streamline processes doesn’t stop at solid customer knowledge and documentation. Andreas shares that he and his colleagues at Lidhed Boström are continuously searching for more areas where Verified’s solutions can contribute to their everyday tasks:
Today, we’ve established clever templates for how we handle Engagement Letters and the annual Statement from the company’s management. What previously required a lot of manual work is now done digitally through simple e-signatures. We only need to fill in a few details on our side and the customer’s side. They no longer need to print out PDFs, sign them and send them back to us. This results in time savings on both ends, which we know leads to increased customer satisfaction!
Are you interested in hearing more about how you can unlock your efficiency, reach out to us!’
