In a nutshell - corruption. We only have two methods of payment. EFT out of SAP R/3, or via Credit Card. For EFT payment, we require that the supplier be registered in the SAP system as a vendor (in itself a long and lengthy process as the supplier has to prove credentials independantly to make sure that they are not fly by nighters or family of staff members), have to invoice on a monthly basis, may not contractually bind us to a term of service, and they have to negotiate a period of payment (normally 30 days from invoice). The other option would be to charge it to a corporate expense card (typically diners or amex) and attach the invoice to the expense claim. This is the route I typically take as a. its much easier, b. I control my own budget and c. i dont carry the debt burden after I have supplied the invoice. The negative of the credit card route is that i would have to assign each charge to a cost center, and am accountable for all expenditure on it, but provided its in budget and due prudence is used, its normally not a problem at all.
Expense cards are the route most large corporates are taking nowadays, particularly with sundry expenses such as travel, communication expenses etc etc.
I know it sounds a bit unreasonable, but hey, thats just the way it is
