Teach Workers To Use Commercial Cards Properly, Visa Advises

Employee training and automated processes ranked high on a list of best practices for commercial cards that Visa Inc. released today. "Leading companies not only provide commercial card training to their employees but also require cardholders to pass a test to ensure the highest level of compliance," the commercial card study says. "Study participants that implemented mandatory training and testing requirements established a minimum passing score of between 80% and 100%." In other best practices, a $7.5 billion manufacturing company saved more than $350,000 in one year by requiring purchasing card use for transactions of less than $1,500 that do not require a purchase order. Automating a business's process for obtaining goods and services, from procurement to payment, is one of the 60 recommendations of the study. Automation should extend to reporting and spend analysis tools, Visa says. Not surprisingly, Visa also recommends businesses encourage reluctant suppliers to accept card payments. Deloitte Consulting conducted the study in 2007 on behalf of Visa Commercial Solutions. Research included 90 interviews with more than 60 large- and medium-sized companies throughout the world.