Internal Support Roles

The trifecta of Commercial Card/P-Card program management is:

1. The program manager/administrator (PM/PA)

2. Procurement/purchasing

3. Accounts payable (AP)

However, the latter two might get overlooked when a card program is developed. Does your organization assign specific card-related responsibilities to procurement and AP? They can fulfill an important support function, regardless of which department the PM/PA resides in. Even though roles vary from one organization to the next, you still can ensure the following tasks are assigned to an appropriate party. Your card program will benefit from everyone working together.

Procurement

Program success is dependent on supplier acceptance of Commercial Cards. Procurement/purchasing (or a related department) should:

• Address card acceptance in competitive bids/RFPs 

• Specify card-related terms in supplier contracts; for example, prohibit surcharges for card acceptance and mandate compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

• Notify AP about card-accepting suppliers

Accounts Payable

AP is in a gatekeeper position to uphold policies and/or contracts concerning payment method. They should:

• Remove card-accepting suppliers from the master vendor file (unless there is a good reason, along with accompanying controls, to pay a particular supplier more than one way)

• Not set up new suppliers in the master vendor file until they verify the intended payment method

• Refuse to process check requests for suppliers that accept cards

• Reduce the frequency of check runs to encourage supplier acceptance of electronic payments

Both Departments

Tasks for both procurement and AP include the following.

• Contribute to the establishment of, or updates to, an internal “payments policy”

• Train their staff on their card-related roles and responsibilities

• Monitor suppliers/payments to ensure card payments occur as expected

• Look for additional opportunities to use cards—plastic or virtual—based on payment history

• Track the impact of card payments (e.g., process savings, PO reduction, etc.), which helps fuel program metrics

How many of the things noted herein does your organization consistently do? How can you strengthen your program support roles? 

Related Resources

• The importance of AP and how to get through to them

• Card appreciation from an AP perspective

• How procurement staff can contribute to organization success

• Are staff members roadblocks in your payment strategy?

• Other program roles

Don't forget to subscribe to the blog (no charge) to receive educational content!