DEFINITION
Vendor Master Data
Vendor master data is the set of records defining each supplier a business can transact with, including name, bank details, tax identifiers, addresses, contacts, and payment terms. Its quality determines whether payment and procurement analytics can be trusted.
Duplicate vendor records are the most consequential defect. They split spend across identifiers, which hides concentration, defeats duplicate payment detection, and allows the same supplier to appear as multiple bidders.
The highest-risk single change in vendor master data is a bank account amendment shortly before a payment releases to that account. This is the mechanism behind most payment diversion and mandate fraud, and it is detected by pairing master data change logs with payment timing.