Cash management.

• Position: From the Library

"Establishing a Payments Framework"

AFP Exchange, November/December 2002, pp. 14-20

Although payments are an essential activity that touches almost every area of every organization, many governments and businesses take a tactical, reactive approach to their payment systems rather than a strategic approach. Because the finance office usually has organizational responsibility for payments, finance needs to take the lead in developing a payment policy that has the support of both executive management and those departments directly affected by it. The first step is to communicate to the organization why payments are important and why they should be guided by a strategy based on policies and procedures. There are five compelling reasons for the strategic importance of payments: control, liquidity, risk, automation, and customer service. The policy itself should articulate acceptable procedures for both outgoing and incoming payments. The policy should not define individual business unit payment...