Before You Accept: Questions to Ask Interviewers

February 14, 2018 Lynn Larson

Approximately 29% of workers plan to look for a new job in 2018, according to a survey from Accountemps. If you are one of them and fortunate enough to earn interviews, expand your preparation beyond researching the employer and anticipating interview questions. Consider what you will want to know about the job (besides the compensation package). In particular, for a Commercial Card program manager or administrator position, following are possible questions to ask interviewers at some point during the interview process to help you evaluate whether the job could be right for you.

Possible Questions

Before the interview, determine what is most important to you. What program drawbacks or challenges can you deal with? Every program has them. What will be too frustrating for you? Gather a mix of information—facts, opinions, and perceptions.

Program Facts and Metrics

What card products/solutions are used today?
Who is the card provider? When does the contract end?
What technology solutions are used for program management?
What is the current program size (spend, transactions, cardholders, geography)?
What percentage of B2B payments are captured via the card program?

Organization Vision

What are the organization’s program goals and objectives?
How does the organization want to grow the program (e.g., more cardholders, additional countries, new allowed spend categories)?
Where do cards rank in terms of the overall payment strategy?

Perspectives, Buy-in, and Support

What are the biggest program challenges?
What are the biggest opportunities?
What are the most notable program successes to date?
Tell me about program buy-in by cardholders, their managers, and executives. Does anyone resist or resent the program?
How do procurement and accounts payable provide program support?

Auditing and Accountability

What have recent audits revealed about the program?
Who performs transaction auditing? How does the auditing occur (manually or via technology)?
Is everyone, including executives, held accountable for their respective card program role?

Look for the right job for you. Ask questions about the card program to evaluate whether the job would be a good fit.

About the Position

What qualities do you feel are most important in a card program manager?
What should be the priorities of the next program manager?
Is the role a decision maker for the program?
Are you looking for the next program manager to instigate change?

Final Thoughts

While everyone will have different priorities, I think there are some universal red flags. I would steer clear of a program that:

is not supported by management
is plagued with audit findings
fails to hold employees accountable

Conversely, an organization eager to improve and/or expand the card program—with the program manager leading the way—would be a good sign. Still, it pays to dig deeper before accepting any position, especially if/when some of the questions posed to you by an interviewer seem strange.

For related resources, such as tips for hiring a program manager/administrator, visit the Program Management page.

About the Author

Blog post author Lynn Larson, CPCP, is the founder of Recharged Education. With 20 years of Commercial Card experience, her mission is to make industry education readily accessible to all. Learn more…

Subscribe to the Blog

Receive notice of new blog posts.

Internal fraud case serves up a reminder for all.

February 5, 2018 Lynn Larson

My local news dished up another case of internal fraud that every organization should take seriously to avoid making the same mistake. A former Allina Health vice president is facing multiple felony-level embezzlement charges stemming from false expense reports and unauthorized charges on his company card. It’s possible the crime started more than 10 years ago. How could this be? What did the company do wrong? Could your organization be at risk? Keep reading to see what the county attorney revealed, as reported by the Pioneer Press.

Lesson to Learn

The case is evolving, so many details are still unknown at this point. However, unauthorized charges include season tickets to local professional sports teams. Allina placed the executive on leave when he could not justify his expenses. February 14 is the related court date. This will be an interesting case to watch. For more information, access the Pioneer Press article.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman observed that the case follows a familiar pattern, explaining, “The employee is highly trusted and, over time, the good financial safeguards stop being applied to that employee.” Sadly, this is all too true. Every internal fraud story that I’ve read indicates some degree of an organization not monitoring an employee’s activity.

It is human nature to be swayed by looks, personality, accomplishments, job position, tenure, etc., even though none of these things indicate the likelihood that someone will or will not commit a crime.

I also think about the “ideal” cardholder—someone who is always on time and accurate with reconciling transactions, and organized with their supporting documentation. When a cardholder has a proven track record, I can see how it would be easy for a manager to skip their review duties and, chances are, the cardholder is trustworthy. Nevertheless, assumptions and intuition should not replace the execution of control procedures.

Can you pick which employee is most likely to commit fraud at your organization? You might be looking at the wrong bunch.

Action Items

Evaluate how well your organization applies measures to detect card misuse and inappropriate expense reimbursement requests.

Are managers doing their jobs? Help them be successful; see a related blog post for tips.
Do you have an effective auditing protocol? Making use of technology typically yields better results than relying on manual auditing. It might be time to rethink your P-Card auditing approach.

Consider sharing news articles about internal card fraud with your management to illustrate what can happen.

If your organization already does a good job with holding employees accountable for their roles, you can use these types of articles to highlight the strength of your program.
Conversely, if you lack confidence in your organization’s controls, such articles can help support your quest for improvement.

Access more content on P-Card controls and additional blog posts on fraud incidents.

About the Author

Subscribe to the Blog

Receive notice of new blog posts.

Top 5 Commercial Card Posts of 2017

January 22, 2018 Lynn Larson

Did you miss key content (and valuable tips) in 2017? The five most popular blog posts by Recharged Education are provided below. Take a look to see what could help advance your Commercial Card efforts. Judging by the first two, organizations are clearly interested in broadening their card programs.

Getting EAP in the door: Obtain five important points to stress in your business case for an electronic accounts payable/ePayables solution.
Virtual Card acceptance made easy: Learn about supplier challenges and a solution that can help them.
Two Supreme Court decisions: This post from last March pertains to industry litigation, as well as state laws involving surcharging. Speaking of surcharging, there have been more rulings at a state level, most recently in California. See surcharge news past and present...
Danger signs of card misuse: Read about a case of card abuse by an executive and see examples of what your organization should pay attention to.
Newsletters can boost communication: Using multiple communication channels, as well as repeating key messages, are best practices for delivering Commercial Card information within your organization. One option to consider is publishing a newsletter. Acquire guidance to help make your newsletter a success.

As always, Recharged Education will continue to make Commercial Card industry education readily accessible to all through the blog and other online resources. In addition, submit a contact form if 2018 is a year in which your organization could use some external expertise. Recharged Education provides fee-based services, such as customized training, consulting, and content development. Learn more...

About the Author

Subscribe to the Blog

Receive notice of new blog posts.