Many years ago, I wrote about an industry survey – I think it was from McKinsey, which reported that most CFOs do not believe the savings their procurement counterpart claims. An equally concerning percentage expressed the opinion that procurement did not positively impact the company’s bottom line or stock price. Once again, this was in 2008 or 2009.
I saw something today that made me wonder if this relationship had improved.
What do finance and procurement think of one another?
“Here is an excerpt from one of the first articles that came up in my Google search – it appears to be from 2019, so before the pandemic hit:
“In our recent CPO Viewpoint study, we surveyed finance, procurement and marketing professionals in over 200 companies about their relationships with one another.
The survey found that 66% of finance professionals believe that procurement teams are a hindrance to the overall objectives of their business. In fact, further data from the study showed that only a third of finance respondents feel that procurement actually helps with cost-saving – the vast majority seeing it as a support function to finance-led initiatives.
Conversely, procurement thought better of finance. 46% of procurement respondents said they had a ‘very close’ relationship with finance, compared to 22% of finance personnel saying the same about procurement.”
Have Things Changed Post-Pandemic
The next thing to come to mind was if the world’s recognition of the importance of procurement and supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic improved perceptions and relationships.
Here is the excerpt from “an article from May 2022:
“When finance and procurement teams work in harmony, they make a far greater contribution to business goals than is possible when working in silos. Yet in many organizations, there’s still a disconnect between the two. Our report, How dysfunctional finance and procurement leads to bad business outcomes, explores this disconnect in detail and we strongly suggest you read it.”
Who Is The Source?
If I shared the above with you without investigation the source – which was the same organization for both, that would be a disservice to all of us, myself included. After all, what is their motivation or interest in sharing this information? How accurate is it?
The company is medius. Here is the link to their LinkedIn profile. Check them out for yourself, and let me know if they are a reliable source.
In the meantime, does the continuing disconnect between finance and procurement surprise you? If not, why?
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Procurement Insights 
The relationship between procurement and finance: This cannot still be true – can it?
Posted on August 29, 2023
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Many years ago, I wrote about an industry survey – I think it was from McKinsey, which reported that most CFOs do not believe the savings their procurement counterpart claims. An equally concerning percentage expressed the opinion that procurement did not positively impact the company’s bottom line or stock price. Once again, this was in 2008 or 2009.
I saw something today that made me wonder if this relationship had improved.
What do finance and procurement think of one another?
“Here is an excerpt from one of the first articles that came up in my Google search – it appears to be from 2019, so before the pandemic hit:
“In our recent CPO Viewpoint study, we surveyed finance, procurement and marketing professionals in over 200 companies about their relationships with one another.
The survey found that 66% of finance professionals believe that procurement teams are a hindrance to the overall objectives of their business. In fact, further data from the study showed that only a third of finance respondents feel that procurement actually helps with cost-saving – the vast majority seeing it as a support function to finance-led initiatives.
Conversely, procurement thought better of finance. 46% of procurement respondents said they had a ‘very close’ relationship with finance, compared to 22% of finance personnel saying the same about procurement.”
Have Things Changed Post-Pandemic
The next thing to come to mind was if the world’s recognition of the importance of procurement and supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic improved perceptions and relationships.
Here is the excerpt from “an article from May 2022:
“When finance and procurement teams work in harmony, they make a far greater contribution to business goals than is possible when working in silos. Yet in many organizations, there’s still a disconnect between the two. Our report, How dysfunctional finance and procurement leads to bad business outcomes, explores this disconnect in detail and we strongly suggest you read it.”
Who Is The Source?
If I shared the above with you without investigation the source – which was the same organization for both, that would be a disservice to all of us, myself included. After all, what is their motivation or interest in sharing this information? How accurate is it?
The company is medius. Here is the link to their LinkedIn profile. Check them out for yourself, and let me know if they are a reliable source.
In the meantime, does the continuing disconnect between finance and procurement surprise you? If not, why?
30
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