Financial Supply Chain Management

01 Nov

Posted at 11:42h in AP Automation, e-invoicing, e-Procurement, e-Procurement Software, Electronic Invoicing, Financial Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance by
1 Like
It’s funny when you read some vendors’ marketing material claiming to be at the bleeding edge of technology when the audience knows full well that what they’re talking about is well established, "business as usual" stuff. Take this example explaining how business is just beginning to discover the internet:  “It wasn’t so long ago that the Internet was viewed as just a playground for consumers with little-to-no-value for businesses. But it’s a completely different story today. The Internet has come a long way, baby” Guess when that was written? 1998? 2003? No. Actually, it was written a few weeks ago by Ariba’s Rob Mihalko aka Rip Van Winkle. The internet isn’t new. E-Procurement isn’t new. Supplier networks aren’t new. Neither is e-invoicing or supply chain finance. They’re all old, well established business tools. So what happened to innovation in P2P?

25 Oct

Posted at 08:30h in e-invoicing, Electronic Invoicing, Financial Supply Chain Management, News, Supply Chain Finance by
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A unique supply chain finance solution from OB10 improves companies’ working capital and cash flow

OB10, the e-Invoicing network that handles £90bn of payments each year, has launched OB10 Express Payments, a unique supply chain finance service that allows organisations to receive payment on approved invoices within three days. The service supports the agreement announced this week between Prime Minister David Cameron and large UK organisations to consider or continue helping their suppliers’ cash flow through supply chain finance.

15 Oct

Posted at 05:15h in Dynamic Discounting, Financial Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance by
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Ask a CFO why he shouldn't pay suppliers early in return for lower prices and he or she is quite likely to say "It's fine occasionally but generally it just gives a one-off hit". I had this exact conversation with a a CFO of a large international organization recently and, not being an accountant, I chose to hold back, go away and lick my wounds and contemplate why his position was both expert and intuitively wrong.

10 Oct

Posted at 17:04h in AP Automation, Dynamic Discounting, e-invoicing, e-Procurement, Electronic Invoicing, EU Commission, Financial Supply Chain Management, P2P Europe, Public Sector Procurement, Purchase to Pay, Purchase to Pay Process by
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The European Commission has declared some ambitious targets for e-procurement. They reckon that €2 trillion can be saved and they intend to get government organisations using purchase to pay best practice to deliver these savings by 2016. These targets are of course way too ambitious. What’s more, the Commission is going about it in completely the wrong way. They may be ambitious and their methods may not be perfect but I’m impressed and delighted at what they're doing.

29 Aug

Posted at 11:13h in Financial Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance, Working Capital Management by
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We’ve always seen the banks as being the facilitators of commerce. Depending on your point of view, they’re an invaluable support to business or a necessary evil. Without a properly regulated banking industry, business in the modern world couldn’t function. Or could it? There are changes happening that could make us question what role the banks play and in some industries and supply chains, there could be a better way.

27 Aug

Posted at 16:02h in Financial Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance by
1 Like
In a comment on an earlier article about the cost of DPO, Richard Fitzwilliam commented: “DPO is a key indicator of a company’s health and is one of the levers which drives a company’s share price and therefore its valuation. Discounting does reduce DPO and therefore has a negative impact on share price.” I would not normally respond to a comment if I disagree with it but Richard's point is  an interesting one and it goes to illustrate very well how DPO, discounting and supply chain finance can be seen in entirely different ways depending on the lens you view them through.