The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best route to take. Sometimes you need to detour; take a step back before moving forward. That strategy enabled a major bank to expand its purchasing card program transaction volume ten-fold, from approximately $100,000 a month to more than $1.1 million.

The First Step

A properly-implemented purchasing card program will benefit your organization through reduced invoice and purchase order volume, reduced payment processing time, fewer outgoing checks, and improved cash flow management.

However, these benefits aren’t gained by simply dropping a p-card program over your existing procure-to-pay process. Instead, you have to adequately plan and prepare for the implementation, which includes establishing spending limits, rules about when cards can be used, and methods for tracking compliance.

Between purchase orders, vouchers, invoices, receipts, expense reports, and other documents, accounts payable departments are responsible for keeping track of a great deal of records. In AP, as in all business functions, maintaining records is essential because it helps you know exactly how much money you have and where it’s going.

Beginning in 2010, British Columbia will join other Canadian provinces that have discontinued its own individual Provincial Sales Taxes and instead harmonized with the Canadian Goods and Services Tax.

On July 23, 2009, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell released a statement describing plans to adopt Harmonized Sales Tax on July 1, 2010. Under the plan, B.C.’s existing 7 percent PST will be combined with the current GST of 5 percent, creating a single 12 percent Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). The 12 percent rate will be the lowest harmonized tax rate in Canada.

A 20 year-old law requiring organizations to account for the personal use of company cell phones will likely be repealed following a recent public outcry.

The law, passed in 1989, states that use of an employer-provided cell phone for personal calls is taxable income to the employee. Employees are supposed to keep detailed records of their business calls, including the length of the call and a clear description of its business purpose. If there is no documentation, then 100 percent of the cost of the cell phone is treated as income.

For many organizations, outsourcing accounts payable operations is a great way to focus their efforts on primary business goals. A car manufacturer may want to concentrate on making cars and not on paying invoices.

Outsourcing accounts payable can also save money, as outsourcers have access to AP automation technology and can take advantage of economies of scale. For even more cost savings, many prominent AP outsource providers operate overseas in low-wage countries like India and the Philippines.

In a rare case of a government program actually running a surplus, Virginia is removing fees that businesses pay to participate in the state’s e-procurement system. The move will give purchasers in the state government access to a wider selection of vendors.

According to an article published in the Roanoke Times, the Virginia Department of General Services made plans to eliminate the $25 registration fee after a General Assembly audit of the state’s e-procurement system found that the program had an operational surplus of $18 million.

If your company has a checking account, then your company likely holds unclaimed property. All companies, no matter how large or small, hold funds (that belong to others) in a variety of forms. Types of unclaimed property include uncashed vendor payments and payroll checks, aged credit balances in accounts receivable and dormant accounts including deposit accounts, trust accounts and stock portfolios.

In an effort to reunite property owners with their missing funds, The Maryland Comptroller’s Office is turning to a media outlet far removed from traditional newspaper classified ads – they posted a video on YouTube.

The video, titled “Who’s Watching Your Lost Money?” features several parodies of the popular GEICO car insurance commercials. Like those ads, the Maryland video features people discovering a pile of money with eyes staring back at them.

Articles and reports posted on TAPC and our sister site, The Accounts Payable Network, have long described the cost-cutting benefits of using procurement cards. However, the best way to drive home the point is through real-world examples like Cape May County, New Jersey.

According to a news release published on Cape May’s web site, the county recently received a rebate of more than $50,000 from their Bank of America p-card program. The rebate is the result of making approximately $5 million worth of purchases on the card in 2008.