A financial workflow is the set of steps a business uses to move money and manage the records around it: creating a payment, reviewing it, approving it, sending funds, and reconciling the result in accounting systems. It also includes related controls such as who can initiate a transfer, who can approve it, and how exceptions are handled. In online business accounts, this workflow often lives inside a platform rather than on paper or in a branch.
In cyber security, financial workflows matter because attackers rarely need to break the whole system; they only need to disrupt one step. Common threats include phishing for payment access, business email compromise that changes invoice details, or account takeover that bypasses approval checks. Defenses focus on separation of duties, multi-factor authentication, audit logs, payment verification, and routine reconciliation. A well-designed workflow makes fraud harder and leaves a clear trail when something goes wrong.