The procure$-$to$-$pay process is essential to businesses

because it encompasses the processes of purchasing

goods and services, receiving them and then paying for them so that an organization can in turn deliver a

solution to customers. The process is also complex due to

its many moving parts and the fact that it spans both the

procurement and finance functions.

The challenge to many organizations is that these

functions operate in silos rather than

working as one seamless process. This

situation presents an opportunity for

organizations to streamline activities

to ensure increased interaction and

alignment between procurement and

accounts payable.

The solution is to adopt an end$-$toend process for procure$-$to$-$pay. This is

a radical shift in thinking for many organizations, which still focus on function

without considering procure$-$to$-$pay as

one process that happens to span different

business units.

We can see organizations$$ current thinking about procure$-$to$-$pay in how they set up

governance for the business units involved

in the process. As shown in Figure $1,$ only

$30\%$ of organizations have structured their

procurement and accounts payable units

into one team that reports to the same executive, and $28\%$ of organizations have these

functions as separate teams reporting to

separate executives.