Purchasing cards are an excellent option for businesses wanting to streamline payment processes and reduce paper volumes. However, as with all AP tools, they can be misused by employees. The key is to have strong controls in place.

"We are working on it" — or if I am in the southwest "we are fixing it" — is the expression I often hear about a best practice I discuss during an accounts payable workshop. We laugh and move on to the next subject. Fortunately in several organizations, I sometimes hear "we are doing that today," which is a way of identifying where a best practice has already been implemented.

Example — When two people are playing tennis, initially they lob the ball to each other. Then one player says lets play a game. What happens to the level of intensity when practicing stops and play begins? The reason the level of intensity increased is because you are now keeping score.