Is your organization still spending large amounts of time and resources to process small, everyday expenses such as office equipment, supplies and travel expenses? The purchasing process in any company can easily become bogged down by the series of well-intended checks and balances set up for each purchase.
 
While it is important to maintain best practices and protect your business from fraud, the reality is most of the purchases you make do not need to be passed through each and every step in the traditional procurement process. The use of a traditional paper check process for these everyday expenditures is rapidly declining thanks to technologically-efficient purchasing cards. 

$70 Savings per transaction with a purchasing card

The more steps a business has in their purchase process, the more the administrative costs and burden add up. A recent report from RPMG evaluating purchasing card spending in North America found that the average cost savings of a purchasing card was about $70 per transaction.  For organizations still using the paper check process, it may be time to reconsider. Purchasing cards are simpler, more secure, and actually help you gain more control over the entire expense process.
 
Controlling expenses by putting a credit card in an employee’s hands may seem counter-intuitive, but it works. The leadership team can:

• Set approved user spending amounts
• Review and approve monthly spending
• Integrate expenses into the general ledger
• Enhance security with virtual card numbers  

In addition, the report showed that cards shortened the business’s procurement cycle time by about eight days. In today’s modern business landscape, savings such as these have a big impact on the bottom line. Finally, credit cards offer a certain amount of protection on purchases, including fraud liability protection. A stolen credit card can be replaced, but stolen cash is gone forever.
 
A commercial credit card such as the City National Bank Visa® purchasing card can be used at millions of merchants worldwide, including business supply stores, online merchants, restaurants, airlines, hotels, and more. It can be used to purchase both goods and services and is more convenient than writing checks and safer than carrying cash.