Tech Thursday: A novel twist on purchasing cards
April 10, 2008 by Jennifer AzaraPosted in: Latest news & views, Procurement and purchasing, Technology
Plenty of your peers have decided that paying with plastic is the ticket to a more streamlined accounts payable process: purchasing cards (p-cards).
After all, it’s the chance to centralize small and/or repetitive purchases onto a single statement. Plus there’s the added layer of spending control since you can program in limits on each individual cards: Joe can only buy from these types of vendors; Kate can spend no more than $250 in a single place.
Still, some worry about being able to track spending and keep their G/L in order.
There’s a way to do both. Instead of rolling out a single card, some companies set up p-cards for the different areas in their business: Sales, Marketing, Production, etc.
That leaves each group with its own “license to spend.” You probably won’t hear to much grumbling. Everyone will be more than happy to part with paper purchase orders.
It doesn’t complicate Finance’s paperwork, either. You can have the different cards appear on a single statement but everything was already broken down by department for budget compliance. So G/L’s a snap.
One company Midwestern company that went this way became so streamlined, it was able to eliminate a $30,000 a year A/P clerk position.
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Tags: Accounts Payable, controls, payments, purchasing cards, streamlining
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I was just wondering if anyone from a non-profit has implemented the use of p-cards? If so, has it been successful? What were some of your challenges, if any?