Card-based payment options bring improvements to the accounts payable process that benefits both buyer and seller. Many innovative companies are using the flexibility, control and advanced reporting capabilities of commercial cards to move their card programs beyond purchasing and T&E.

The sophisticated controls within EnCompass allow companies to bring the benefits of card payments to new situations. While many organizations have had manual procedures for using cards for occasional Accounts Payable for years, EnCompass allows you to expand your card-based A/P program by offering an automated alternative to check or ACH.

For the buyer, the opportunity to streamline administrative tasks, take advantage of higher levels of control, and to realize the benefits of the issuer bank revenue sharing are significant. Sellers realize timely and efficient funding with the benefit of superior payment and remittance data. AOC has assisted in introducing the advantages of card payment into several innovative circumstances with the potential to improve the process for both buyers and sellers. These include:

  • When the supplier encourages rapid payment for payables obligation

  • Purchases for controlled projects, or where policy requires secondary or higher approval
  • Centralized payment for conferences, meetings or travel expenses
  • When limited administrative resources are available to support purchase activities or operating budgets are constrained
  • When there is a need to access “the next level” of  purchase management utility allowed by incremental card payments activity
  • When there is a need to access “the next level” of  income provided by revenue sharing resulting from transitioning check spend to card payments
  • When buyers seek to increase spend and garner the associated benefits by expanding card use from traditional small purchase on their employee cards to payments on established purchasing vehicles for large ticket items such as contract payments.

Factors that customers take into consideration when looking to expand traditional card activity into the accounts payable environment, and when deciding whether to implement a benefits based product like EnCompass include:

Day to day Accounts Payable’s (AP) policies and procedures remain the same and are not subjected to additional manual intervention unless desired

Vendors maintain the ability to submit invoices the same way they do today

Clients maintain the ability to process and approve invoices the same way they do today

Change provides some level of financial benefits without risk to the company

EnCompass provides all of these and more!!