Q1: Are There Any Challenges With Past Trends And What Action Plans Do You Offer
This question covers the kind of commodities the procurement expert prefers and what level of understanding he possesses on past trends which can be applied to the here and now. A good expert always has a strategy or action plan in place to minimize risk on cost and zero shortage concerning the plan.
Procure To Pay Process Steps
In a procure-to-pay process, steps must be observed carefully in order to help reduce overall costs and boost productivity. By following procure-to-pay best practices and understanding procure-to-pay process steps, companies can achieve a more effective and less costly P2P cycle while identifying and correcting areas for improvement at the same time. By following P2P best practices, companies will gain not only cost reductions, but also actionable insights for better budget planning and more strategic vendor sourcing.
To differentiate procure-to-pay vs source-to-pay, the procure-to-pay process typically starts with the requisition of goods and services, and the P2P cycle is completed when the accounts payable team issues payment to the vendor. Source-to-pay, on the other hand, involves strategic sourcing of new vendors, as well as products and services to be purchased, even before the request for goods or services is made.
Through automation and the cloud, AvidXchange can help companies gain control of the who, what, and when of their purchasing process.
To streamline invoice processing, AvidXchange can automatically code invoices and start the invoice approval process. AvidXchange uses optical character recognition technology to convert paper invoices into data. Companies can use AvidXchanges software solutions to optimize their source-to-pay processes.
What Do You Understand By A Three
The three-way match is used to avoid paying incorrect payments. It is a process of matching the invoice, comparing the purchase order, and receiving a report to validate the purchase details before making a payment. The primary purpose of the three-way match process is to reduce the risk of fraud and financial loss by preventing the reimbursement of unauthorized purchases.
In the three-way match process, we must follow the steps given below:
- Match the invoice price with the purchase order price.
- Match the quantity billed by the supplier with the ordered quantity.
- Match the quantity received.
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How Do You Keep Track Of Your Supplies
The cost of supplies, the use of supplies , the cost of poor supply record-keeping versus the cost of keeping records, and so on all influence whether or not supply records are kept. I use a computerized inventory management system to keep track of supplies for higher value higher volume supplies are considered direct costs. This is important for various reasons, including accounting accuracy and replenishment efficiency.
What Is A Goods Receipt
It is basically an important document that is prepared by the company after receiving the goods from the vendor. It can be used at a later date or stage to compare whether what has been supplied is the same as what was ordered. In addition to this, the receipt can be compared with the purchase order for matching purposes.
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Q2 What Is The Meaning Of An Invoice
Ans: An invoice or bill is a commercial document issued by a seller to the buyer, indicating the products, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller has provided the buyer. An invoice indicates the buyer must pay the seller, according to the payment terms.
In the rental industry, an invoice must include a specific reference to the duration of the time being billed, so rather than quantity, price and discount the invoicing amount is based on quantity, price, discount and duration. Generally speaking, each line of a rental invoice will refer to the actual hours, days, weeks, months etc being billed.
What Is Your Approach To Orientating New Employees On Safety Regulations And Conduct Standards
This question can help employers get an idea of your management style and how you help orientate and train new employees in your department. You can use your answer to showcase your leadership capabilities, along with your ability to plan and carry out training objectives for your organization.
Example:”In my past role, I was responsible for developing and carrying out employee orientation and training. New employees were required to remain in training for one business week. During the first day of training, I oriented employees to the layout of the company’s facilities and departmental areas. For the remainder of the week, I helped employees learn the basics of their job roles and develop key skills that prepared them to take on the full responsibilities of their jobs.
During employees’ probationary period, I implemented 30-, 60- and 90-day check-ins to assess performance and job satisfaction. These approaches help me connect with new employees and provide support in a mentorship role and ensure they can begin their work as soon as they start their jobs.”
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How Will You Go About Determining This Companys Spending Patterns
The basis for determining an organizations purchasing patterns is conducting a spend analysis and building a spend profile. A well-done spend profile will reveal things like the amount of money your organization spends on each category of goods and services it purchases, the amount of money spent with each supplier, changes in spend over time, and other valuable information.
Further analyzing that spend can help you determine opportunities for implementing cost savings practices like supplier consolidation, strategic sourcing, and standardization. Spend analysis can be conducted using a variety of tools, from deploying the most cutting-edge source-to-pay software to using PivotTables in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
Explain The Importance Of The Batch Record
A batch tells about a quantity of a particular product, which is processed or produced at the same time with the same parameters. The materials produced in such batch have the same values and characteristics. While, the batch record gives the information about a particular batch product and helpful in knowing whether the product has gone through GMP .
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What Do You Understand By Account Payable Explain It With An Example
Accounts payable or AP is an amount that a company needs to give to vendors for goods and services purchased on credit. It has to be paid off to its creditors or suppliers within a period. Accounts payable is a type of existing liability of a company.
In other words, we can say that accounts payable is due money which the company has to pay to the vendors or suppliers for goods or services received that have not yet been paid for. Accounts Payable is considered as a liability and comes under the head ‘current liabilities’. It is a short-term debt payment that needs to be paid to avoid default.
For example, suppose a restaurant orders food and beverage from a company on credit to owe money to the company. These items are part of the inventory and are considered trade payables. On the other hand, the restaurant’s obligations to other companies, such as the company cleaning the restaurant’s staff uniforms, are considered accounts payable. Generally, both categories fall under the broader accounts payable category, and many companies combine both under the term accounts payable.
Q5 How Many Types Of Purchase Order Types/agreements Are There
Ans:
Standard Purchase Order: You generally create standard purchase orders for a one-time purchase of various items. You create standard purchase orders when you know the details of the goods or services you require, estimated costs, quantities, delivery schedules, and accounting distributions. If you use encumbrance accounting, the purchase order may be encumbered since the required information is known
Planned PO: A planned purchase order is a long-term agreement committing to buy items or services from a single source. You must specify tentative delivery schedules and all details for goods or services that you want to buy, including charge account, quantities and estimated cost.
EX: Buying goods for Christmas from a specific dealer.
Contract PO: You create a contract purchase agreement with your supplier to agree on specific terms and conditions without indicating the goods and services that you will be purchasing i.e. for $ amount you must supply this much quantity. You can later issue standard PO referencing your contracts and you can encumber these purchase orders if you use encumbrance accounting.
Blanket PO: You create blanket purchase agreements when you know the detail of goods or services you plan to buy from a specific supplier in a period, but you do not yet know the detail of your delivery schedules. You can use blanket purchase agreements to specify negotiated prices for your items before actually purchasing them.
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Q: How Would You Describe Regular Day
I would prefer choosing an activity or item and plan for a negotiation strategy, then negotiate with it. In my opinion, a practical approach should be evaluated by using an existing practical issue from the Procurement domain. This will quickly show you their attitude and mindset. You can learn more here
If A Department Wants To Order Equipment Thats Beyond Budget What Would You Do
There are many options available for handling a request to make a purchase that exceeds an internal customers budget. Refusing to place the order is only one and possibly the least professional approach to take. One option that can be explored with the internal customer is leasing the equipment instead of buying it.
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What Is The P2p Process In Sap When Using Kofax Ap Essentials Integration
The power and versatility of SAP for managing elements of the P2P cycle are unmatched, but the right tools can extend the platform’s basic functionality into the 21st century. Advanced programs built on machine learning and artificial intelligence, such as Kofax AP Essentials, can transform partially-paper-based workflows into fully digital flows that produce clear and consistent results.
AP Essentials uses cognitive capture technology to intelligently classify documents and extract information, such as PO numbers, item types, quantities, and more. The same software can also quantify information from invoices and, with SAP, streamline the three-way matching process.
With tools such as Kofax Process Director, businesses can automate procurement, payment, and new supplier onboarding while making it simple to correct errors earlybefore they can cause problems.
More advanced than the basic P2P cycle, the SAP workflow takes the basic stages and segments them into key moments for data accumulation and communication.
Which Tools Do You Prefer To Track The Progress Of Your Project
Scenario: Tools vary from company to company. This question will help the interviewer check your knowledge of the many different procurement management tools.
How to Answer: Your answer should reflect on how good you are at handling different procurement management tools. You can expound this by sharing a brief experience with any of the tools you mentioned.
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How Do You Process Purchase Requisitions
This question can help the interviewer evaluate your ability to follow established company procedures for documentation, submitting contracts and initiating vendor transactions. In your answer, give an example of how you processed these types of documents according to your organization’s protocols to highlight your attention to detail, decision-making skills and written communication skills.
Example:âBefore submitting a purchase requisition, I include documentation on potential vendors, budget proposals, delivery instructions, capital assets, the account details and vendor and department contact information. After completing a requisition document, I then submit it to the fiscal officer for approval. At this point in the process, the fiscal officer routes the requisition to my contract manager for finalization.â
A Question Of Leadership
If your company is interviewing applicants for higher-level positions, you may consider adding a set of procurement manager interview questions, focused on a candidates leadership style, industry knowledge, strategic and tactical capabilities, and relationship skills.
Examples questions you might ask include:
Please describe your style of leadership. Can the candidate not only manage, but inspire, the people under their guidance? Do they lead by example? Can they readily and confidently explain their approach? The answers to these questions will give you clear insight into how an applicant will lead their team members and your business to greater success.
Have you built a procurement team from scratch? If a position is brand new, or the job description has changed significantly and a new team must be established, this question is vital. Their answer will help you assess whether they are sufficiently self-motivated to handle such a task, and the autonomy that comes with it. Crafting a team also requires strong strategic skills, and a practical and creative vision for how the team will function in pursuit of departmental and company-wide goals.
- Procurement Management
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Q: What Approach And Definition Do You Apply To Purchasing
Understanding the concept of buying and the processes involved while buying any product or service is essential. With this Procurement Interview Questions, you should be able to know the difference between procurement and purchasing with the provided response. Part of your response should include how suppliers are compared and awarded, specifications, which internal customers are involved, etc. With this, you also get to know if internal stakeholders negotiations are allowed.
The course from our SCMDOJO expert Maryna on Introduction to Procurement, wll be great starting point.
Q: As An In Procurement What Would You Say Is The Difference Between Strategic Sourcing And Purchase
For a detailed answer please read my frequently read and quoted blog STRATEGIC SOURCING VS. PURCHASING 7 KEY DIFFERENCES
The short answer of this question is as follows:
One of the key difference of Strategic Sourcing in contrast to conventional purchasing is that it extends beyond purchasing and focuses on converging and sustaining the buyer-supplier-relationships . The objective is to leverage them, exploit their capabilities, integrate and complement the core competencies of the various partners in the supply chain so as to provide value and cost efficiencies and uniqueness for the customer.
If you want to learn more about Sourcing Process, you must this is awesome course by Maryna on Sourcing Process.
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What Steps Should You Take Before Approving An Invoice For Payment
Before approving an invoice for payment, we should take some of the following steps:
- We should validate the statement once for checking any holds.
- If the workflow is implemented, begin approval for the invoice. Once the invoice is approved, you can go for payments.
- We should create accounting after the endorsement of the invoice.
Questions To Ask About Your Procure
For todays forward-looking distribution organizations, improving productivity is about improving core business processes. How mature are they? How efficient are they? How close are they to best practices?
Procure-to-pay sourcing, planning, buying, receiving, payment is a core business process that offers exceptional opportunities for optimization and integration. Ask these questions to evaluate the maturity of your P2P and to know where you can make changes that will maximize efficiency:
1. Does your purchasing team have a sourcing database in a system ?
2. How easy is it to buy from new organizations?
3. Do you have a system to forecast demand beyond same as last year?
4. Do you have a sales and operations planning process to discuss the forecast, and turn in it into an inventory plan , complete with agreed-upon service levels?
5. Do you have a vendor portal to communicate with suppliers?
6. Are you tracking vendor performance and, if yes, are your vendors improving?
7. Do you track inbound shipments by product and lot number?
8. Can you divert shipments without them ever crossing your dock doors?
9. Are more advanced receiving processes part of your process?
10. How is quality maintained? When a customer calls with an issue? Or by established processes ?
11. Do you have an automated three-way match for accounts payable?
12. Do you have a separate defined business process to work with drop-ship suppliers?
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Procurement Interview Questions And Example Answers
The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed’s data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.
Procurement and purchasing specialists work in supply chain management to find and initiate transactions with suppliers to obtain materials their organizations need for business operations. If you’re interviewing for a position in procurement or purchasing, it’s important to showcase your ability to perform the wide-ranging tasks of the job. To better prepare for your interview, consider practicing your answers to common questions for purchasing specialists and managers.
In this article, we cover 35 procurement interview questions with several example responses to help you prepare your answers ahead of time so you can make a great impression and succeed in your interview.
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Accounts Payable Questions And Answers:
1. What is VAT ?Value-Added Tax is a tax on consumer spending. It is collected by VAT-registered traders on their supplies of goods and services effected within the State, for consideration, to their customers
2. What is the end to end AP process explain briefly?Accounts Payable process starts with Purchasing and ends payments to Vendors. Workflow is: Purchasing team receive requests-Initiate for quotations from vendors-Purchasing team creates Purchase Order, once the quotation is finalized and obtained all required approvals-PO copy would be sent to Vendor-Vendor will raise an invoice and submit to accounts Payable-Accounts Payable key invoice into ERP-Once the invoice falls on the due invoice will get paid.As this process starts with Procurement and ends with Payments , hence this process also named as to P2P.
3. Do you know how to debit the bank cash book upon withdrawn of cash from the bank?Cash A/c- Real A/c- Debit what comes in & credit what goes out.Cash withdrawn mean cash comes in so it will be debitedBank A/C- personal A/C Debit is receiver & Credit is a giverThe bank is given amount so it will be credited
Contra EntryCr. Bank A/C
4. What is debt from the banks point of view?When we have received the amount from a bank that is a debt to a banker.Is This Answer Correct? 50 Yes 28 No
5. What is three Way Matching Concept?When we creating the invoice in 3-way matching invoice price and no price receipt price should be matched.
36. What form do I use?
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