Do you have controls on managing vendor information and the vendor master file? Do you follow them? Experienced managers will say, “Duh.” However, others can use a reminder, so here it is. “With commerce comes fraud,” says Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of Airbnb. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), in its 2020 Report to the … Why Vendor Controls and Confirmations Are Critical
Several important factors are involved in vendor onboarding, but these can make an inefficient process. Onboarding begins, naturally, with the collection of the requisite information. How an organization collects vendor data touches on accuracy versus error, completeness, privacy and security. An organization must validate vendor data to meet compliance requirements and ensure accuracy of the … How to Gain Efficiency in Vendor Onboarding
Business buyers and sellers have personal lives, and their experiences as consumers have set up expectations in their professional worlds. Modern technology has led to a redefining of customer experience, which has become central to business transformation and a differentiator for success. All this began with technology-based companies like Amazon setting a very high bar … How to Satisfy Expectations in Vendor Relations
Aggressive Cybercriminals Are Sophisticated; Security, IT and Finance Teams Must Be Tool People receive more than 120 emails at work per day on average. That’s a lot of emails. So, we categorize and strategize our email activity. But when we see an email from the boss, we tend to open it. And cybercriminals count on … NEW! Criminal Business Email Compromise: Are You Prepared?
Why Vendor Self-Service Is Better “The winner of worst response time to a customer phone call goes to … the Airlines!” With hold times of up to eight hours, airlines are the worst these days, as they try to rebound from the pandemic. But try a bank or a “service provider,” or any number of … Have You Called Customer Service Recently?
Managing vendor information entails risk. The vendor master file is the key to vendor payments. Errors in the vendor master can lead to costly mistakes, and the master file is a prime target for fraud. There is also a risk of non-compliance with particular government tax, sanction and exclusion programs. Further, some of the vendor … What Are Your Risks in Vendor Information Management?
In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, the slow character Dogberry has no idea what “tedious” means when the governor of Messina applies the label to him. Ask your P2P staff, however, and they’ll tell you what “tedious” means: Answering “Has our invoice been paid?” for the hundredth time this month! A central challenge in providing … How to Eliminate the Tedium in Vendors’ Inquiries
Dealing with Vendor Inquiries Has your vendor master file decreased in size? Chances are, the answer to that question is no. Not only because it’s been a while since you cleansed the vendor master file, but because your organization keeps adding new vendors. With new vendors come the same problems—inquiries about getting paid. Vendor calls … One Stone, Two Birds
Your vendor master file constitutes a critical set of dynamic data. It continually changes through additions, modifications and expiration of active records. Safe practices include getting complete information from a new vendor and adhering to internal controls on access and changes to the vendor master. Because vendor master files are ever-growing, like a garden, they … Unwieldy Vendor Master? To Reduce Risk, Divide and Conquer
Unfilled expectations lead to disappointment. Smart companies and individuals work to manage expectations. You can control some expectations but not all. Where do expectations come from? Some we set ourselves. Our organizations claim or promise certain things. Sales & Marketing set expectations of customers all the time. (Then companies work to meet them!) Contracts are … Meeting Your Vendors’ Need for Speed
A broken P2P process generates vendor inquiries. When a vendor contacts your organization about an invoice, AP has an opportunity to do more than solve the immediate question or problem. Vendor interactions offer AP a chance to fix process problems, reduce inquiries, and improve vendor relations. But in customer service, AP often can’t see the … Vendor Inquiries: Step Back and See the Forest
The work of accounts payable (AP) has a broad reach. It is one of the few departments that touches every department within a company as well as external parties. It plays an important role in the company’s supplier relationships. As recipients of AP’s services, the vendors, internal employees and government agencies are AP’s “customers.” Internally, … 2020 Accounts Payable Customer Service Survey
