General purchasing: optimising expenditure with the Procurement Card

Budget management, real-time visibility of expenditure, optimised ordering: the benefits of the Purchasing Card extend to all sectors.

Large multinationals or SMEs: whatever their size, companies face the same challenge: managing the purchase of non-strategic goods and services. This expenditure includes office supplies, IT equipment, maintenance, communications costs and services such as catering. These are all frequent orders and invoices that generate administrative costs that often exceed the value of the transaction if they are not managed effectively. As a result, companies are keen to significantly reduce their processing costs.

The Procurement Card offered by BNP Paribas is a solution perfectly suited to this objective. Firstly, because it speeds up payments to suppliers by delegating responsibility for procurement to employees. For example, the solution can be restricted to certain activities or countries. Secondly, because, in addition to saving a considerable amount of time, Carte Procurement offers a number of additional benefits, including optimised cash flow, detailed reporting and a secure purchasing process.

What are the advantages of the Procurement Card?

- Its ease of use and immediate payment of orders. Accepted by all retailers via the Visa acceptance network, the card can be used to pay for an order instantly by telephone or online, guaranteeing almost immediate payment to suppliers. This is an important point when negotiating with suppliers.

- An improvement in working capital requirements. The company can benefit from deferred payment at the end of the month +10 days or +30 days, or even more...

- A certain amount of autonomy for users. The Procurement Card makes it very easy to delegate purchasing, while at the same time providing security for the company through the introduction of restrictions on use, for example by setting spending ceilings in advance by activity code, country, order or period.

- A real time-saver. Tracking expenses is simplified by means of a statement of transactions incorporating precise data on expenditure. This reduces the time needed to process invoices.

Among the users of this solution, the State, public establishments, local authorities and hospitals have adopted the Purchasing Card - also known as the Procurement Card - to simplify and optimise their ordering and invoicing processes. Today, public services use the card to pay for more than 650,000 transactions a year, according to the State Procurement Department. But alongside the public sector, many private companies have deployed this solution to optimise their purchasing management and reduce the internal validation process.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

A leading European bank
BNP Paribas is France's market leader in commercial cards, supporting more than half of the companies in the CAC 40 index.

BNP Paribas is the only continental European bank to offer a complete range of multi-currency commercial cards meeting all the needs of private and/or public companies.

BNP Paribas has been named "Best Bank in the World" and "Best Bank in France" for 2016 by Euromoney, an internationally renowned financial publication.

A comprehensive range and essential solutions
In a context of expense monitoring and cost reduction, BNP Paribas offers secure solutions adapted to business travel payments. These payment solutions are a real advantage when negotiating terms and conditions with suppliers.

The range offered by BNP Paribas meets the needs of both large companies and SMEs, as well as those of travel agencies and hotel reservation platforms.

Technological and human expertise
BNP Paribas has set up integrated solutions with the market's leading HBTs and payment hubs for both business and leisure travel.

Regardless of the card used, expenses are consolidated in the same database. This gives companies control, monitoring, reporting and traceability.

Finally, BNP Paribas has another major advantage, with a team of experts on hand to help companies define and implement their card projects, from the study of their needs right through to monitoring the first transactions.

Testimonial: Sébastien Bozek, Departmental Purchasing Card Administrator at the Ministry of Defence

Although the initial focus was on office supplies and IT consumables, the Ministry of Defence is now seeking to develop the use of the Purchasing Card for all its needs. Whether for supplies such as personal protective equipment, or services such as training or catering, the Purchasing Card is given careful consideration in every public procurement contract.