Purchasing managers/directors, and procurement managers/directors
guide the organization’s acquisition procedures and standards. Most
organizations use a three-way check as the foundation of their purchasing
programs. This involves three departments in the organization completing
separate parts of the acquisition process. The three departments do not all
report to the same senior manager to prevent unethical practices and lend
credibility to the process. These departments can be purchasing, receiving; and
accounts payable or engineering, purchasing and accounts payable; or a plant
manager, purchasing and accounts payable. Combinations can vary significantly,
but a purchasing department and accounts payable are usually two of the three
departments involved.
Historically, the purchasing department issued Purchase Orders
for supplies, services, equipment, and raw materials. Then, in
an effort to decrease the administrative costs associated with
the repetitive ordering of basic consumable items, "Blanket" or
"Master" Agreements were put into place. These types of
agreements typically have a longer duration and increased scope
to maximize the Quantities of Scale concept. When additional
supplies are required, a simple release would be issued to the
supplier to provide the goods or services.
Another method of
decreasing administrative costs associated with repetitive
contracts for common material, is the use of company credit
cards, also known as "Purchasing Cards" or simply "P-Cards".
P-card programs vary, but all of them have internal checks and
audits to ensure appropriate use. Purchasing managers realized
once contracts for the low dollar value consumables are in
place, procurement can take a smaller role in the operation and
use of the contracts. There is still oversight in the forms of
audits and monthly statement reviews, but most of their time is
now available to negotiate major purchases and setting up of
other long term contracts. These contracts are typically
renewable annually.
Another method of decreasing administrative costs associated
with repetitive contracts for common material, is the use of
company credit cards, also known as "Purchasing Cards" or simply
"P-Cards". P-card programs vary, but all of them have internal
checks and audits to ensure appropriate use. Purchasing managers
realized once contracts for the low dollar value consumables are
in place, procurement can take a smaller role in the operation
and use of the contracts. There is still oversight in the forms
of audits and monthly statement reviews, but most of their time
is now available to negotiate major purchases and setting up of
other long term contracts. These contracts are typically
renewable annually.
This trend away from the daily procurement
function (tactical purchasing) resulted in several changes in
the industry. The first was the reduction of personnel.
Purchasing departments were now smaller. There was no need for
the army of clerks processing orders for individual parts as in
the past. Another change was the focus on negotiating contracts
and procurement of large capital equipment. Both of these
functions permitted purchasing departments to make the biggest
financial contribution to the organization. A new terms and
job title emerged –
Strategic sourcing and Sourcing Managers. These
professionals not only focused on the bidding process and
negotiating with suppliers, but the entire supply function. In
these roles they were able to add value and maximize savings for
organizations. This value was manifested in lower inventories,
less personnel, and getting the end product to the
organization’s consumer quicker. Purchasing manager’s success in
these roles resulted in new assignments outside to the
traditional purchasing function – logistics, materials
management, distribution, and warehousing. More and more
purchasing managers were becoming Supply Chain Managers handling
additional functions of their organizations operation.
Purchasing managers were not the only ones to become Supply
Chain Managers. Logistic managers, material managers,
distribution managers, etc all rose the broader function and
some had responsibility for the purchasing functions now.
In
accounting, purchases is the amount of goods a company
bought throughout this year. They are added to
inventory. Purchases are offset by
Purchase Discounts and
Purchase Returns and Allowances. When it should be added
depends on the
Free On Board (FOB) policy of the trade. For the purchaser,
this new inventory is added on shipment if the policy was FOB
shipping point, and the seller remove this item from its
inventory. On the other hand, the purchaser added this inventory
on receipt if the policy was FOB destination, and the seller
remove this item from its inventory when it was delivered.
Goods bought for the purpose other than direct selling, such as for
Research and Development, are added to inventory and allocated to Research
and Development
expense as they are used. On a side note,
equipments bought for Research and Development are not added to inventory,
but are
capitalized as
assets...