Synonymous with he term Procure to Pay and often abbreviated to P2P, refers to the business processes that cover activities of requesting (requisitioning), approval, receiving, paying for and accounting for goods and services. Purchase to Pay is synonomous with other terms such as “Req to Check” and “Procure to Pay” and “Order to Cash”. Depending on the context, these phrase can be used to describe either buy side or sell side process and some vendors have adopted these terms as brands for their ERP modules.
Purchase to Pay (P2P) is often associated directly with the technology that support the processes it describes like e-procurement, AP automation and ERP purchasing and payment modules. Procurement people have a tendency to emphasise the purchasing end of P2P and similarly, finance and accounting people often refer to P2P as relating to accounts payable. This is sometimes referred to as “P2” or “2P” thinking.
Why is Purchase to Pay Important?
The deep embedding of technology in business in the late 20th century facilitated a rapid evolution in business practices of all kinds and supply chain was no exception. Historically, procurement and purchasing was seen as distinct from finance and accounting. Although the two functions may have shared a set of suppliers in common, the absence of joined up processes and detailed business intelligence and reporting meant that there was little opportunity to generate synergy. In the 21st century however, the synergy is compelling and significant process efficiencies can be gained through the implementation of Purchase to Pay.
Top 5 Reasons to Implement P2P
A detailed definition of Purchase to pay is here