A well controlled purchasing function is critical to the success of your organization. Over paying for goods & services or not getting what you paid for directly hurts your bottom line. From selecting the right vendors and holding them accountable through contract compliance audits to establishing the proper internal processes and monitoring critical contracts or transactions we can help you manage your procurement process.
We have a signifiant amount of experience investigating wrongdoing in the procurement area. Because of this experience, we also know what to look for when assessing existing programs and contracts. This means we will be more efficient than our competitors.
You are in business to make money. The top line is important but the bottom line is even more important. That means controlling your expenses. Every dollar saved is a dollar right to the bottom line!
Some ways we can help you control your expenses include:
- Contract compliance audits
- Expense reimbursement plan administration, transaction review & monitoring
- Purchasing card program administration, transaction review & monitoring
- Independent competitive bidding administration
- Procurement process assessments
- Third party due diligence & risk assessments
Contract Compliance Audits
Contract compliance audits can take many forms. Perhaps the most important thing about them is that they can often times result in actual cost recoveries for goods and services not delivered or perhaps where you have been overbilled based upon the contract. Vendors must be held accountable for delivering quality goods and services on time as outlined in the contract and if they don’t there should be consequences.
Some areas that we have performed contract compliance audits include:
- Construction
- Marketing
- Transportation
- Manufacturing
- Retail
Expense Reimbursement Plan Administration, Transaction Review & Monitoring
First, a good employee expense reimbursement plan starts with the right policy. Second is ensuring that your employees comply with the policy. Not only is this essential to save your organization money but it is a requirement under IRS regulations for the deductibility of the reimbursed expenses! The problem organizations encounter is that managers don’t typically do a good job reviewing and holding their employees accountable for compliance with expense reimbursement policies. This leads to reimbursement for inappropriate goods or services and / or improper tax treatment of these things. Consider outsourcing this process and take the administrative burden off of your operators. Enforcement of compliance is easier for us since we are a third party. Add money to your bottom line by stopping the leakage in your expense reimbursement program and stay in compliance with IRS regulations!
We assess policies, compliance with policies and IRS regulations. We test expense reports and their transactions to determine compliance and that appropriate documentation is submitted to substantiate the spend.
There is a lot of fraud in this area. It is small but it is a gateway to larger frauds… You have heard of gateway drug… Expense reimbursement fraud is a gateway fraud! Imagine an individual ripping your organization off thinking “If my manger does not catch this what else is he/she going to miss?”
P-Cards Program Administration, Transaction Review & Monitoring
Purchasing cards are credit cards given to employees that are in the name of and directly paid by an organization. P-cards are used for spot buying and are largely for convenience or perhaps emergency purposes. P-cards are useful tools however they can be abused. We see it all of the time. Yes, your employees maybe taking advantage of you.
We can help you develop policies and procedures to control your P-card program. We can also provide outsourced monitoring and review of P-card activity to help ensure program compliance. It is often easier for us to challenge the use of P-cards than an administrator who could see the users day in and out and even maybe friends with the cardholders.
It is fairly easy for us to determine if your employees are abusing your P-card program. Give us a call today and let us schedule a free P-card assessment*.
Procurement Process Review and Assessment
Let us assess your purchasing program. We could be able to save your organization a significant amount of money and perhaps even identify or prevent fraud. During the review we not only look at processes and controls but we also preform a number of analytics of your data to detect anomalies. Some things we look at include:
Comparing vendor addresses to your employees addresses- Looking for duplicate invoices
- Reviewing invoice numbers looking for sequential invoices
- Many other analytics using both monetary and non-monetary data (we have a number of unique techniques, developed over the years, that have been used to identify anomalies)
Purchasing is where the money is at. This is where your organization is most vulnerable. We can help significantly reduce waste, abuse and yes even fraud.
Third Party Due Diligence & Risk Assessments
Perform vendor background checks and capability assessments (vendor risk assessments / third party risk assessments) – Vendors are an extension of your business, it is critical that they can deliver the goods and services you need in a timely manner and at an agreed upon price. They also need to comply with your organizations core values. It is important to do business with reputable organizations.. It’s the whole guilt by association thing. In today’s environment, you need to know who you are in business with and trust that they are doing the right thing.
Some things that we consider as part of a vendor risk assessment include:
- How the vendor was selected (if an existing vendor)
- The vendor’s history / performance (if an existing vendor)
- The vendor’s reputation and position in their industry
- Relationships between a vendor (or potential vendor) and your organization’s personnel
- The contract and its components (i.e right to audit clause and performance standards established)
- Types of information shared with the vendor (i.e. PII, PHI, Company Confidential plans/numbers etc..)
- Vendor access to your systems
- The criticality to your organization of the goods and services supplied by the vendor
- The availability of alternative suppliers and
- Contract economics among others
Independent Competitive Bidding Administration
Get your goods and services at the best price possible. Implement a competitive bidding process for purchases over a dollar limit that makes sense for your organization. We can help you implement this strategy and set up procedures that you can follow time and time again.
Pertrolance can also serve as your procurement group. We can take on the role as the “bad guy” to get the absolute best deal possible. Many times organizations leave money on the table because they don’t want to hurt their relationship with a vendor. By allowing us to take on the role as the “tough negotiator”, you can still maintain that relationship.
The procurement process is a critical component of your organization. This area is ripe with risk including significant fraud risk. Remember every dollar saved is another dollar that directly goes to your bottom line! Let us help save you money and protect your organization contact us today and start saving money now.
* Limitations apply