Industry, Retail, Wholesale
We encounter risky situations among a number of our clients, when it comes to safeguarding contracts and other agreements with suppliers.
A number of examples:
- Not all contracts with suppliers are agreed annually; some contracts are more than 10 years old
- Contracts are free-form, therefore resulting in frequent debate on their interpretation: definitions are lacking, the timing and method of settlement is unclear, the principles are ambiguous and preconditions overly vague
- Contracts are disseminated throughout the organisation; each buyer can basically reach their own agreements and decide whether to register them. There is no authorisation procedure
- Besides annual contracts, many additional agreements are made casually or per e-mail. Here too, there is no central registration process. This causes the organisation to miss out on a great deal of revenue, especially when there is considerable turnover of personnel
- E-mail files of relevant staff members are not periodically saved in order to safeguard them
- Buyers are free to make flexible arrangements with suppliers, resulting in them frequently making concessions in order to solve other bottlenecks. There is therefore insufficient insight into failure costs and the correct revenue
- The controlling department is not proactively involved with the comprehensiveness of revenue
- Expected revenue is not recorded, and there is therefore no comparison versus the actual revenue. The actual revenue is accepted as reality
Recentes can design and implement a system of procedures and tools for the client, to reduce these risks and give the organisation an effective grip on supplier revenue.
Think in terms of:
- Powers diagram and authorisation tables
- Excel or Access template in which contracts, conditions and other agreements are recorded and calculated; linked to the purchasing value from accountancy
- Process flow charts for supplier negotiations
- Standard contracts and purchasing conditions, including definitions and standardised working methods
- Process design for (interim and final) settlement of conditions
- Improved cash flow through implementation of advance payments and/or periodic settlements
- Guaranteeing the comprehensiveness of revenue by expanding the advertising folder process to include controlling aspects for supplier contributions, for example
- Design for separation of jobs, with a distinction made between the functionary reaching agreements, the functionary safeguarding those agreements, the functionary responsible for their settlement and the final monitoring aspect (4-eyes principle)
- (Re)design of the ledger, providing extra insight into • Claims and obligations • Inclusion of supplier revenue in results • Discrepancy between cash flow and results • Division into calendar years or financial years, to which the items apply
- Periodic control measures, such as • Overall monitoring of payment discounts • Regularly requesting statements from suppliers • Checking the settlement of returns, warranties, defects