A purchasing card (also abbreviated as PCard, P-Card, or ProCard) is a form of company charge card that allows goods and services to be procured without using a traditional purchasing process. In the UK, purchasing cards are usually referred to as procurement cards. Purchasing Cards are usually issued to employees who are expected to follow their organization’s policies and procedures related to P-Card use, including reviewing and approving transactions according to a set schedule (at least once per month). The organization can implement a variety of controls for each P-Card; for example, a single-purchase dollar limit, a monthly limit, merchant category code (MCC) restrictions and so on. In addition, a cardholder’s P-Card activity should be reviewed periodically by someone independent of the cardholder. Regular reviews should be part of an organization's ongoing Purchasing Card program management efforts. A variety of factors can contribute to its success or, conversely, its stagnation. There are common P-card program pitfalls to avoid, with the goal of developing success strategies that can put (or keep) a program on the right path. History Use of Purchasing cards have seen a dramatic rise in recent years with many government organizations now using them to remove “red tape” and reduce costs. For example, In 2001 the Department of Defense (DOD) had 230,000 cardholders with an annual spend of $6.1 billion. Organizations typically use purchasing cards to target low-value goods and services, as it offers a mechanism to do these transactions at a significantly lower cost than traditional methods. There are a variety of software solutions available to help manage purchasing card programs, in particular the electronic statements that are provided by card companies in place of traditional purchase invoices. Organizations have started to use purchasing cards as a strategic form of payment in accounts payable (A/P), in addition to the traditional high-volume, low-dollar transactions. Organizations are replacing checks with purchasing cards and automating the payment to the supplier. This is one of the fastest-growing uses of purchasing cards. According to the 2005 Purchasing Card Benchmark Survey Results (Palmer and Gupta, 2007), traditional purchasing card transactions below $2,000 grew 1.4% from 2003 to 2005. The most dynamic growth was in transactions from $2,000 – $10,000 representing a 6.1% growth. A/P transactions fall within this range and can extend into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Statistics According to the 2005 Purchasing Card Benchmark Survey (Palmer and Gupta, 2007): PCard