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06.12.09 FULL AP EXPO PROGRAM AVAILABLE
Schedules and descriptions of over 30 sessions and workshops—including many on AP automation--are now available for our upcoming 8th Annual AP Conference & Expo October 14-16 at the Loews Royal Pacific at Universal Orlando. more...
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06.03.09 Eliminate Invoices Before Automating
AP departments that seek to automate their invoice processing should first step back and determine which invoices can be eliminated altogether. Why automate something that doesn’t need to be there in the first place?
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05.18.09 AP Says KO P-Card/1099 Reporting
Back in February, the Internal Revenue Service, in Notice 2009-19, asked for comments from the public on the new law (Section 6050W of the Internal Revenue Code) that requires credit card organizations to do Form 1099 reporting of the payments made to merchants through the cards. The way the rules were written, there was the possibility of double reporting of payments made via payment cards—once by the bank and again by cardholders. Luckily, many groups wrote to the IRS, urging it to shape the rules to make sure this double reporting was eliminated—and take AP out of the picture.
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04.24.09 Test Your AP IQ: Corporate Card Rebates
Banks offer rebates (e.g., cash back) as part of their corporate charge card programs. What is the most common factor used in determining rebates?
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04.21.09 Big Retailers Now Use P-Cards for Inventory
In the face of tight credit, some big retailers are using corporate charge cards to finance inventory, reports the New York Post. A major retail chain, Lord & Taylor, has begun to finance a small portion of its monthly merchandise shipments with an American Express card, says the newspaper. The Post’s sources also said AmEx is striking similar deals with other big chains, as the firms that have traditionally financed retail inventories have clamped down on credit.
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03.02.09 Act Now to Ask IRS for 1099 Relief
One of the big thorns in the side of AP is Form 1099 reporting of payments made through the corporate credit cards. How would you like to get rid of this headache once and for all? Well, here’s your chance.
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02.03.09 Need to Cut Your AP Costs? Free Webinar!
AP managers have found many ways to cut costs and increase productivity. Some ideas are new and innovative. Others have stood the test of time. Either way, they work—and that’s all that matters. Learn all about them by attending a FREE 60-minute webinar. more...
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01.26.09 PRESS RELEASE: Controllers Eye AP
CFOs, Controllers and Business Managers now realize there are significant bottom-line savings to be found in accounts payable, savings they need to tap in 2009. You’ll find a precise roadmap to those savings at the 9th Annual Accounts Payable Operations conference (March 11-13, San Antonio), presented by the Institute of Management and Administration, BNA Subsidiaries, LLC and Casher Associates.
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01.13.09 Is Your P-Card Program a Dog?
Your p-card program is a dog if it’s “low” and “slow,” meaning it handles only a low level of indirect spend and it was slow to get off the ground, according to a research report from the Aberdeen Group.
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01.02.09 Test Your AP IQ: Reducing Paper Invoices
Which of the following techniques does NOT help to reduce the number of paper invoices that come to AP?
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12.30.08 Sales Tax on Card Transactions
If your organization owes any sales and use tax on transactions, the liability must be recorded at year-end. One place where this exposure can hide is in credit card transactions, whether it’s a purchasing card (p-card) or travel (T&E) card.
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12.02.08 Speeding Up P-Card Payments
Don’t be too quick to speed up that p-card payment to nail down a bigger rebate. Credit is tight today, and you’ll need to crunch some numbers first. more...
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10.29.08 Metrics Reveal How P-Cards Enhance AP
The average administrative cost of the traditional purchase order (PO) process (sourcing, purchasing, and payment activities) is $89. For purchasing card (p-card) transactions, that cost drops to around $19—a $70 savings per transaction. This is revealed in the 2007 Purchasing Card Benchmark Survey from RPMG Research Corporation.
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09.16.08 Issue a P-Card to AP
Don’t limit your notion to who can have a purchasing card (p-card). A cardholder doesn’t necessarily have to be in purchasing or in the business units. It doesn’t even have to be someone who does any purchasing—just as long as they’re in a position to increase usage.
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08.14.08 >>> AP Benchmarking Survey Now Open <<<
How much does it cost AP departments to process an invoice? How many invoices should AP staffers be able to process in a month? What is the average error rate for payments? You will get the answers to these questions--and a lot more—if you take part in our AP Benchmarking Survey. We’ll send you the results so you can see how your AP department stacks up against all the others.
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07.23.08 MCC Mapping of P-Card Transactions
About one in five (19 percent) of organizations we polled say they automatically map purchasing card (p-card) spending to the general ledger using MCCs, or merchant category codes. Under this method, for example, a transaction is automatically coded to an office supply account when an employee uses the p-card at Staples or Office Depot.
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07.02.08 Fighting P-Card Fraud
Slightly more than one in ten (13 percent) of organizations that use purchasing cards (p-cards) report that they experienced attempted or actual payments fraud through the use of these cards, according to the 2008 Payments Fraud and Control Survey from the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP). This is a concern, especially if you are considering growing your p-card program.
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06.20.08 Test Your AP IQ: One-Card Program
How familiar are you with AP rules, regulations, and best practices? Here’s a question to test your knowledge: What is the primary advantage of a “one-card” program (combined procurement card, travel card, and sometimes a fleet card)?
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04.15.08 Mandate Use of P-Cards
If your organization has a purchasing card (p-card) program in place—make cardholders use the cards! That’s the most important way AP and p-card pros say their organizations will grow their p-card programs, reveals our new research. Over half (56 percent) of the almost 300 respondents to our recent p-card survey said that “mandating the use of the p-card for certain transactions” was the most important factor to drive future growth of the p-card program.
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03.18.08 P-Card Blocks and Limits
As part of a program of internal controls for purchasing cards (p-cards), most organizations block transactions to certain Merchant Category Codes (MCCs). According to preliminary results of our latest survey on p-card usage, 63% of organizations polled use MCC blocking. A quarter of respondents block specific vendors. And almost all (95%) block ATMs to prevent access to cash. more...
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03.10.08 What Can Go Wrong With P-Cards?
At the Accounts Payable Town Hall meeting at our AP conference in Ft. Lauderdale last week, an attendee asked this question: “We’re interested in starting up a purchasing card program. What are the potential pitfalls?” Someone replied: “Take a look at what’s happening in Knoxville!”
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02.12.08 Watch That Plastic
Two employees used corporate debit cards as part of their overall scheme to steal $200,000 from a New York elementary school, investigators charge. The employees, who worked for the Department of Education, allegedly used four school-issued debit cards to buy $19,000 worth of “school supplies” that included cigarettes and beer, according to news reports. Investigators faulted the school’s principal and DOE supervisors for “poor oversight.”
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12.28.07 Test Your AP IQ: Sales and Use Tax on P-Card Activity
How familiar are you with AP rules, regulations, and best practices? Here’s a multiple-choice question to test your knowledge: Which of the following methods is NOT acceptable as a way to figure sales and use tax liability on p-card transactions?
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12.11.07 Improving Your P-Card Program
The benefits of a corporate purchasing card program are well documented—the elimination of invoices, lower processing costs, faster procure-to-pay cycle, and so on. So enhancing the program should be the order of the day. One way to do this is to think of the program as a consumer service with you as the provider. Out in the marketplace, how would a provider of a service make it better for consumers? One simple way: Ask them.
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11.20.07 The “Gomer Pyle” Audit Strategy
One of the most beloved characters in TV history was Gomer Pyle—that wide-eyed, good-natured country boy from the fictional town of Mayberry. One of his catchphrases was: "Surprise, surprise, surprise!" Well, that should be the policy of your audit program—partricularly for expense report filers and purchasing card holders. Just the mere thought of being selected for audit is enough to put the kibosh on fraud.
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11.19.07 Concerns Voiced Over Proposed QPCA Rules
Speakers at a Nov. 7 Internal Revenue Service hearing on proposed rules (REG-163195-05) on the Qualified Payment Card Agent program (QPCA) commented on the rules. However, most of their comments were directed to the consent rules.
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11.06.07 IOMA Launches On-Site Training for Accounts Payable
New York, NY (November 6, 2007)—The Institute of Management & Administration (IOMA) has announced the full roll-out of its on-site training programs to help organizations large and small efficiently meet their management and professional development objectives when it's convenient.
IOMA experts will work one-on-one with organizations to identify and address their specific needs. After agreeing on an organization's objectives, IOMA will pair the organization with one or more IOMA Advisory Services consultants, comprised of the nation's leading payables management authorities.
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10.31.07 Don’t Be Afraid of Ghost Cards
Happy Halloween! Today is a good day to talk about a certain kind of purchasing card—the “ghost” card. We recently asked AP pros: What has been the best idea you’ve used over the past year to improve your AP department’s operations? Here’s one answer: “We implemented paying some of our largest vendors via credit cards called ‘ghost’ cards,” reports an AP manager at a manufacturing company (19 full-time employees in AP). more...
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10.30.07 Shift to E-Payments Gains Steam--Somewhat
A best practice in AP is to move away from paper checks—and use electronic means to make payments, including ACH, wire transfers, and p-cards. This is happening—but it’s happening slowly--according to a new survey.
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10.23.07 Elements of a Best-In-Class P-Card Program
Purchasing Magazine recently conducted interviews with executives at American Express, Visa, MasterCard as well as some financial institutions that issue p-cards. One question: What makes a p-card program best-in-class? Based on the interviews, such programs:
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