This week, PayStream Advisors was honored to team up with one of P2P’s most influential experts, Chris Doxey. A Certified Accounts Payable Professional (CAPP), Ms. Doxey shared her extensive knowledge of financial automation solutions during an informative webinar on the use of purchasing cards. Attendees of this webinar, “Measuring Your P-Card Program with a Six Part Best Practices Scorecard,” learned about different types of p-cards, p-card risks, and the benefits of a p-card program. Ms. Doxey also outlined important steps for establishing roles and responsibilities in a p-card program, and included a valuable metrics tool for companies building a p-card program. Today, we will share some of the webinar’s valuable contents with our readers who weren’t able to attend.

Ms. Doxey began her session by illustrating how p-cards fit seamlessly into the P2P cycle. They are designed to make business purchasing more efficient by reducing paperwork, providing greater control over spending, and increasing visibility into spending patterns. They reduce the workload for both AP and purchasing departments at essentially no cost to an organization, as well as simplify the reconciliation process, eliminate out-of-pocket expenses, and improve supplier negotiations. Companies love using p-card programs for their structural advantages as well. Among other things, they make purchasing more convenient for employees, reduce the overall transaction processing workload, reduce labor and administrative costs associated with procurement and payables, and obtain rebates and incentives for the organization. Suppliers like p-cards too, as they ensure faster payment, reduce credit risk, lower their processing costs, and bring the potential of increased sales. While the impact of p-cards on a company’s business processes is extremely beneficial, the program itself is so easy to use it is almost effortless.

Ms. Doxey wasn’t hesitant to also mention the risks of purchasing cards. There are several types of cards, including corporate T&E cards, fleet cards, and ghost/virtual/single-use cards, but all are subject to occasional abuse. Many organizations have been exposed to some degree of payment fraud, as well as processing difficulty in payment reconciliation. However, the advantages of p-card programs can greatly outweigh the risks when used with p-card program best practices.

There are several useful steps companies can take to ensure p-cards are used safely and efficiently. To maintain compliance and consistency in p-card usage, companies should establish strong parameters with well-defined programs,  good internal controls, and realistic policies and procedures. It is also important that there is always available cash for purchasing and appropriate treasury hurdle rates for the use of cash, among other things. A successful p-card program will result from a good program administrator, a solid partnership with the card issuer, strong internal and supplier communication, proper and frequent training of cardholders, and effective card distribution with focus on usage. It also important that roles and responsibilities are clearly delegated.

To help attendees understand these roles, Ms. Doxey highlighted some of the tasks of the P-Card Program Manager and the Program Administrator. The Manager should handle operational relationships with external partners, identify operational gaps in new offerings, and partner with external teams to support new payments products post launch, among other things. They should also work to improve customer relationships and develop metrics for assessing performance and trends. The Administrator operates on a more general level and must have a thorough understanding of the program initiatives and goals. They oversee and manage all purchasing card activity, and are responsible for supervising and training staff, analyzing and reconciling accounts, preparing and processing related information, maintaining financial records, and more.

According to Ms. Doxey, in addition to a strong management structure, a successful p-card program is also dependent on the use of metrics. To help organizations interested in implementing this program in their Purchasing departments, she included a valuable metrics tool in her session. The P-Card Program Scorecard consists of six p-card best practices. The Scorecard is designed to break down a company’s specific business structure needs, and optimize their processes’ interaction with purchasing card use. This Scorecard is free for download for all P2P professionals here.

Every time PayStream has the pleasure of partnering with Chis Doxey, we are amazed by the knowledge and value she brings to every P2P learning experience. We hope our readers will keep an eye out for future webinar opportunities with Ms. Doxey, and we encourage any company interested in a p-card program to take advantage of the P-Card Program Scorecard.