Conquering mountains, figuratively and literally.

July 6, 2015 Lynn Larson

In our careers, we regularly encounter challenges that often feel like mountains we must face. Interestingly, aspects of actual mountain climbing align with what we experience in the workplace. I can draw many parallels (see below), stemming from my husband’s summit last month of Mt. McKinley, North America’s highest peak. However, you do not have to be a mountain climber to relate. You can apply the same type of preparedness and fortitude used for mountain climbing to achieve success on the job and in life.

Mountain climbing, like life and daily job demands, is often a balancing act.

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”

— Michael Jordan

Mountain Climbing Mirrors Life and Work

Prepare as best as you can.

Research what you will be embarking on or tackling. Follow the guidelines and best practices provided by proven experts. Pursue the necessary training. Do not lose valuable preparation time. You cannot achieve long-term goals by procrastinating.

You have to figure out some things on your own.

Use the expert advice and resources to develop a plan that will work best for your specific situation.

You do not always get to choose your team.

Most likely, you will be among a diverse group of people, some of whom you would not have chosen. Dig deep to find patience and appreciate what each offers.

You might have to carry a heavier load than your teammates.

Hopefully all team members support the same goal, but you might be more equipped than others to accomplish the necessary work. Instead of being discouraged, embrace being a leader and utilize your capabilities to the fullest. Try to help out others to make the process easier for everyone.

Expect change.

Whatever it is, something unexpected will occur and it will likely be out of your control. Focus on what you can control, which might only be your response to what happens.

Reaching a goal requires drudge work.

Everything takes time. Executing the steps of a plan can be tedious. Sometimes there is forward progress followed by steps backward before you can proceed again. Not every day will be the high of a summit day.

Celebrate Success

Summit days are when the hard work pays off the most. At work, this could be getting the rebate from your card provider, reaching your supplier on-boarding goal for electronic payables, completing that overdue risk assessment, launching a Declining Balance Card program, or other. Summits are great, but so are milestones. Both can provide a sense of satisfaction for what you have accomplished. Enjoy the views throughout the journey!

About the Author

Blog post author Lynn Larson, CPCP, is the founder of Recharged Education. With more than 15 years of Commercial Card experience, her mission is to make industry education readily accessible to all. Learn more…

Subscribe to the Blog

The magic of Declining Balance Cards.

June 22, 2015 Lynn Larson

No magic wand needed. Declining Balance Cards are readily available and can help resolve different pain points, such as managing expenses for infrequent travelers, capital projects, and meetings/events. Two end-users shared their experiences with me, highlighting the value of these cards.

Successful Uses

Infrequent Travelers

Many organizations, in their travel expense management efforts, face the dilemma of how to address employees who travel for business only occasionally (e.g., less than twice per year). For Intermountain Healthcare, the best answer is Declining Balance Cards, which they call a Single Event Travel (SET) Card. Margie Strong, Senior Card Program Coordinator, summarizes the benefits of their program, “Prior to implementing SET cards, infrequent travelers submitted reimbursements, creating not only a large loss in rebate to our card program, but a significant loss in recapturing state sales tax due to our tax exemption status.”

The program management team maintains a block of inactive cards, so they can readily be set up and issued. This includes establishing an appropriate card limit, travel-related Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) and expiration date. When loading the limit, one lesson they learned early on was to add some padding to the employee’s estimated travel expenses to help prevent transaction declines during the travel period.

In Review: What They Are

A Declining Balance Card (sometimes called a Controlled Value Card) is related to a P-Card, but spend limits do not refresh each month; rather, a spend limit and/or expiration date are established up front, giving it a specific “shelf life” to accommodate a special project, purpose or budget. As such, the card might be called a Meeting Card, Project Card or similar.

Consider how Declining Balance Cards could add a little magic within your organization to solve an ongoing problem.

Communication is critical to their success. They post information about the SET Card program online, offer a fact sheet, promote within internal newsletters, talk with stakeholders, etc. Overall, the program provides an efficient and controlled solution to what was an ongoing problem in the past. For more details about the Intermountain SET Card program, including how they combat occasional acceptance issues due to no individual name on card, please visit the related webpage.

Capital Projects/Federal Grants

Declining Balance Cards can equally succeed in the public sector. JoAleen Ainslie, CPCP, is an advocate, recalling her previous job experience with a public school district. The cards worked well for multiple federal grants and a capital project related to the building of a new elementary school. She shares, “To me, Declining Balance Cards are a wonderful financial payment vehicle with built-in control mechanisms. The cards prevented anyone from going over budget and created all kinds of pertinent reporting data to track required documentation for retrieval prior to the grant expiration dates/clean up periods. Because of the ability to assign dedicated accounting elements, I could generate reports on demand, without waiting for a cost accounting reconciliation. We also utilized MCC controls to prevent the cards from being used for items not allowed in grant parameters.”

Given the various possibilities, Declining Balance Cards can enhance your payment toolkit. Have you explored how they could help your organization?

About the Author

Subscribe to the Blog

Felony charges and fraud-fighting tactics.

June 10, 2015 Lynn Larson

Since writing in February about Purchasing Card misuse by the Minneapolis Public Schools, I have seen two similar articles about other public school districts. There is a mix of questionable business purchases via P-Card and blatant personal purchases. However, the two stories are quite different, as described below. One involves felony charges and the other discloses a unique policy for missing receipts.

1. Felony Charges for Ex-Principal

As reported by the Star Tribune, a former principal for a suburban Twin Cities high school has been charged with three felony counts of theft by swindle, stemming from inappropriate P-Card use spanning more than a year. Purchases include flowers for his father’s funeral, gift cards and electronics. In addition, he purchased iPads for which “the location of the purchased equipment is unknown.” Released information includes copies of receipts, invoices and card statements. It appears to me that no one was monitoring his purchasing activity.

Be vigilant about finding the policy violators and invoking the related consequences. — Be vigilant about finding the policy violators and invoking the related consequences.

The lessons to take from this story are:

Monitor all cardholders.
Mandate documentation (e.g., itemized receipts).
Ensure purchases comply with policies.
Swiftly address fraud, misuse and abuse.

I cannot understand why any organization would be lax about these fundamental controls. This story is not about the problems with P-Cards, even though this is the message that some readers might receive. Rather, it is a story about the ignorance and/or laziness of the school district. To top the matter off, this man resigned at the end of last year, but the district had not taken any disciplinary action against him prior to that.

2. District Takes Hard Stance

Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) is trying to avoid the hot water Minneapolis was in. While they, too, have had inappropriate P-Card purchases, SPPS has cracked down.

Missing Receipts

Like other organizations, SPPS requires itemized receipts for every purchase, but there is no “missing receipt” form for cardholders to use as a backup. They suspend the card and instruct cardholders to write a personal check for purchases lacking the required documentation. And, yes, they have enforced this. One director-level employee who said he did not know about the receipt policy repaid the district $130 for missing travel-related receipts.

It is unclear how SPPS employees are trained prior to card issuance. However, by requiring employees to sign an internal card agreement to confirm their knowledge of policies, an “I didn’t know” claim does not hold.

Questionable Business Purchases

SPPS also investigates questionable purchases (e.g., expensive yoga pants for a gymnastics team and more than $800 for dozens of potted poinsettias). They ask cardholders for justification and the business purpose, and their policy directs them to be as frugal as possible. I appreciate the intent of such policy language, but, unless there are specifics to define frugal, everyone can interpret differently. Certainly, for public sector organizations, training for cardholders and managers becomes even more critical. In the private sector, an organization might be more lenient in allowing departments to decide how to spend their budgets.

Monitoring activity and consistent policy enforcement set the right tone. Employees know they are watched.