Now that’s a title the doctor never thought he’d write! But a recent news story over on Capital FM Kenya that stated that President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a stern warning to his Cabinet to Adopt e-Procurement in 7 Days or Face the Axe got his attention.

If even the President of Kenya, a country in Africa that is not likely to be associated with progressive e-Procurement practices like leading countries in Europe, knows that it is necessary to introduce transparency, accountability and eliminate abuse of … existing procurement and financial management process than how come your average board of a 100M+ company in North America hasn’t figured it out yet? Less than half of companies of these size have modern systems or processes, even though decent systems have been around for almost 15 years!

Especially when SOX has been in force for almost 13 years and:

• mandates a set of internal procedures designed to ensure accurate financial disclosure,
• mandates the external auditor to report on the adequacy of the company’s internal control on financial reporting, and
• mandates that the company adequately report on risk

A modern e-Procurement system, which can track all expenditures, not only makes all expenditures through the system visible but also makes it easy to report on such expenditures. If the company mandates all such expenditures through the system, then the company can report on all of those transactions and make accurate financial disclosures.

If the company forces all requisitions, purchase orders, and purchases through the system, then it has adequate spending controls and reporting.

Plus, since a company can quickly see what they are buying and who they are buying from, it makes it easier to identify risks – simply evaluate each supplier and cross-reference each product against a list of products where demand may exceed supply or where necessary raw materials could become scarce as a result of a potential disruption (such as a natural disaster, trade embargo, etc.). It doesn’t address all risks, and, in particular, sell-side risks, but it’s much better than not knowing what you are buying or who you are buying it from.

So follow Kenya’s need and mandate that your organization enter the modern Supply Management world.