Manufacturing and operations · Level 3 to 5. Buyers, purchasing assistants, stores and goods in staff, operations and finance managers
Procurement and supplier management
Requisition to payment, what a three way match actually prevents, and seeing a single point of failure before it stops the line.
- 2modules
- 4.5CPD hours
- 240guided minutes
- Freemodule 1
About this course
Procurement is taught as a cycle diagram and practised as a series of arguments about who approved what. This course teaches the controls that decide whether the cycle survives a busy month: what a three way match prevents and what it does not, why goods receipting is where inventory accuracy is won or lost, and the segregation of duties that stands between an organisation and the two oldest frauds in the subject.
It then moves to the supplier side. Segmenting a supply base by spend and risk, finding the single points of failure hiding inside a sensible looking supplier list, and reading the risk that is visible in a supplier's own behaviour long before the failure.
It closes on the number most organisations still buy against and should not: unit price. Incoterms decide where cost and risk transfer, freight and duty are part of what the material cost you, and landed cost is the figure that makes two quotations genuinely comparable.
What you will be able to do
- Describe the procure to pay flow and the control at each step
- Explain what a three way match prevents and interpret each kind of mismatch
- Apply segregation of duties across requisition, approval, receipt and payment
- State the statutory position on late payment of commercial debts in the UK
- Segment a supply base by spend and risk and choose the right strategy per segment
- Identify single points of failure and sole source dependencies
- Calculate landed cost and explain what incoterms transfer and when
Modules
Assessment and certificate
Knowledge check after each module and a final assessment at 80 per cent, with unlimited attempts.
A free digital certificate showing 4.5 CPD hours with a verification code. It evidences knowledge of procurement controls and supplier management. It is not a delegated authority to commit your organisation to spend, which only your organisation can grant.
Questions
What does a three way match actually prevent?
Paying for goods you did not order, did not receive, or were charged the wrong price for. It compares the purchase order, the goods receipt and the invoice, and payment proceeds only where all three agree. What it does not prevent is a fraudulent order placed by somebody with authority to order and receive, which is why it has to be paired with segregation of duties.
Is a sole supplier always a risk?
Sole source and single source are different things and both deserve a decision rather than an accident. Sole source means only one supplier exists in the market. Single source means you have chosen one when others exist. The second is a legitimate strategy with real benefits. The problem is the third case, where nobody ever chose and nobody knows the dependency is there until the supplier stops answering.
When can we charge interest on a late invoice?
Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, statutory interest at eight per cent above the Bank of England base rate becomes chargeable, along with a fixed sum of debt recovery costs, once the agreed payment date has passed. Where no date is agreed, thirty days after receipt of the goods or the invoice, whichever is later, applies. The right exists whether or not you choose to use it commercially.
Why is unit price the wrong number to compare quotations on?
Because it excludes most of what the material costs you. Freight, duty, insurance, packaging, inspection at goods in, the cash tied up by a longer lead time, and the cost of failure all vary by supplier. Landed cost brings the direct ones into a single comparable figure, and total cost of ownership brings in the rest.