ApprovedAP automatically screens every vendor against the U.S. Treasury's OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. This article explains what OFAC is, what happens when a vendor is flagged, and what your AP team should do next.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a U.S. Treasury agency that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions. The OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list identifies individuals, companies, and organizations with whom U.S. persons are generally prohibited from doing business. Paying a vendor on the SDN list can result in significant civil and criminal penalties.
ApprovedAP screens every vendor in your vendor master against the OFAC SDN list using the vendor's legal name and, where available, their EIN. Screening runs automatically on vendor import and on every sync. You can also trigger a manual screening run at any time.
When ApprovedAP detects a potential OFAC match, it creates a high-severity alert in your dashboard and sends an email notification to your AP team. The vendor is marked as "Flagged — OFAC Review Required" and your team should not process payments to that vendor until the flag is resolved.