While treasury managers’ roles are already well-defined, they can also bring their payments expertise to other domains of business. Peter Lybeer of AirPlus International describes how the payment responsibilities of treasury managers are expanding into procurement where devices such as virtual credit cards can improve the efficiency and control of purchasing.
What strengths of treasury management can contribute to the wider business?
A treasury manager has a well-defined role at the heart of the financial management and control of company performance. It’s not up to me to describe the individual tasks. However, treasury managers have the capacity to contribute a great deal of their expertise in the domain of payments because of its relevance toother aspects of a business. For example, treasury can bring financial and payments knowledge to procurement. The result can be a happy end user and a more digital procure-to-pay process whilst meeting the company’s financial goals.
How can treasury managers apply their expertise to other areas of a business?
Since I jumped into this role, I always say that now we don’t have anymore the “luxury” of building or having a traditional business. We must be sustainable by design. Now, more than ever, with all the increased regulatory and global pressure around sustainability, each CFO should embrace ESG considerations in their way of thinking and acting. It’s just a matter of time until natural selection will make its job and only those companies that can adapt will survive.
“There are even solutions where non-card-enabled-suppliers can be paid with virtual cards”
Virtual cards have been used for twenty years for payments for hotel accommodation. But they are now part of an ever-evolving digital world where physical cards are no longer needed for online spending. They are easy to use and save time in making purchases. There are two types of virtual cards, single-use and multi-use.With single-use cards, anew card is created for each transaction.After the first transaction, the card can no longer be used for further payments. A multi-use virtual card can be created for recurring payments with the same vendor. After the first purchase, the virtual card is locked to that specific vendor and guarantees a smooth payment experience. All transactions are gathered into a single statement from AirPlus and enriched with flexible data(such as PO-number, costcenter, employee id) that is unique to every single card and purchase
Why should companies consider the use of virtual cards?
Reluctance to accept virtual cards is disappearing as suppliers see enhanced operational efficiency and security and the benefits in account receivables. Through automated virtual card integration in TMS solutions or long-tails pend solutions, the payment is automated and enriched with data that will ultimately facilitate the reconciliation. There are even solutions where non-card-enabled suppliers can be paid with virtual cards. This means that practically every expense can be done with a virtual card. AirPlus can help firms analyze their AP files to decide where virtual cards can best be used. AirPlus adds value in showing which category of suppliers best suits a company profile ; where virtual card scan help extend payment terms or increase the data quality of existing finance processes.
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Original interview: https://www.atel.lu/airplus
