I really try to be patient...but it has been 385 days since I've been able to change my LinkedIn profile due to some glitch in their system that LinkedIn Technical Support can't figure out. My plea..."Please techies, get this fixed for me!"
Granted....I submitted a ticket a year ago, they never fixed it, and I let it go. But, I've reported it a second time, and the new ticket is many days old. If we can put people on the moon, you'd think we'd be able to....
Please, LinkedIn...help me!
Debi
Corporate Credit Cards, Procurement Cards, Meeting Cards and Ghost Cards have become a common payment method in the travel and meeting industry. And, rightly so, because paying for products or services via a Card vs. the traditional Accounts Payable method saves an organization an average of $63* per transaction.
(CLICK on GRAPHIC to go to VIDEO).
Secret #1 – Spend
itemization is GREAT when using a Card compared to Accounts Payable traditional
methods. When Suppliers populate the
various levels of data, a Card will provide you with detailed spend information. Whereas an invoice may be itemized by General
Ledger codes, the process may be time consuming vs. obtaining the data through
a Card. (See the Video for detailed information)
2. Secret #2 - It is a good practice to use a division of responsibilities to prevent fraud when paying by card or check request. Best practice organizations will divide the responsibilities among the meeting planner, a Card Administrator, and Accounts Payable. When one industry consultant failed to recommend this Division of Responsibilities to a client, the client experienced significant fraud and went back to using purchase orders and checks. Unfortunate for this Organization, because the Card fraud risk could have been mitigated. (See the Video for a Division of Responsibilities)
3. Secret #3 – There are savings / cost avoidance opportunities by using a Meeting Card or P-Card in organizations that allow their employees to collect Membership Rewards. When Corporate Cards accrue Membership Rewards, and those cards are used to pay for meetings, your organization may be losing valuable rebate money. (See the Video for an example calculation).
4. Secret #4 - Learn to Calculate your Surcharge Fees - and Improve your Contract Language. With the new allowable Surcharge in 40 states, it is important to rewrite your contract language and calculate the potential fees. These surcharges have been allowed in other countries, but only became allowable in the U.S. as of January 27, 2013. (See the Video for an example calculation).
And, don't forget to ask your Credit Card company the following questions:
In response to the additional surcharge that establishments may charge, is the Credit Card company prepared to:
a) identify, in advance, which establishments will charge
the fee?
b) report fees immediately after they are incurred? And,
report fees monthly?
c) begin creating a database of the establishments that are charging the
fees? And, communicate this information
monthly to your clients?
Using a Meeting or P-Card is the best way to pay for your meetings, events and other products / services. Interesting tidbit for you...The American Express Meeting Card was developed when PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) meetings leaders recognized that hotel payments were often delayed through the onerous accounts payable process. Those leaders meet with their financial card company, American Express, in the hopes of identifying a new payment solution for meetings. It was the PwC payment needs and ideas given to American Express that launched the meeting industry's widely acclaimed Meeting Card. The Meeting Card has evolved over the years and has been a successful meetings payment method for hundreds of organizations.
Be sure to watch the Video to learn more about these 4 Secrets of Card Payments.
Scholar Consulting Group provides with you with the most tools and templates to manage your T&E or Meetings program.
Available for download, three industry firsts!
We hope you have a lovable February, lead with your heart, and live by one of my mottos: Make it FUN and WIN!
Debi Scholar
*National Association of Purchasing Card Professionals
I've been working in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan now for about a week as my home in New Jersey is still without power. Thankfully, our house is safe is Scotch Plains, New Jersey ... but my husband and dogs are living by candles and flashlights.
Kevin Iwamoto's blog post this week is extremely ON target and I encourage all to read it. Lessons from Hurricane Sandy is exactly what I help my clients with by creating and customizing a Crisis Management Guide that works for incidents like Hurricane Sandy as well as threatening suicide attempts, terriorist attacks, and other events. Meeting professionals should have a hard copy, and an electronic copy, of the Scholar Consulting Group guide, (almost 40 pages) in their briefcases at all times so that they can refer to it as necessary. Susan Losurdo and I created the guide and you should not be without it.
Below is just a part of the Table of Contents from the guide.
If you would like help with your Crisis Management Planning, contact me. Prayers to all those people and animals that are affected. I'm grateful that all I have to worry about is our loss of power.
Debi Scholar
