A Brief On Taking Control Of Maverick Spend

by Procurement Freelancers Team

Maverick spend is the definition of the process when the expenditure of the external vendor does not abide by any purchasing policies. Studies show that rogue buying or maverick spending takes up almost 80% of a company’s total spending. If you have a small business or have just started with a venture, this percentage is not easy to cope up with. The inherent savings take a hit, and you have to be careful with what you do next to avoid being bankrupt. According to the best procurement subcontractors, businesses have to control their maverick spend in order to gain profit. The purchases that are done outside the binding contracts do not do good to anyone. Every company runs with a pre-established procurement policy and maverick spending falls beyond that concept. It stops companies from comprehending the value of a negotiated contract. However, once you learn how to keep rogue spending in check, you would boost compliance within your company.

Why Maverick Spend Is Bad For Growing Business

Several procurement organizations face problems due to maverick spending. Especially for growing businesses, rogue spending spells nothing but doom. Take a look at the following points to know maverick spending must be avoided:

Reduced Cost Savings

Maverick spend often results in a leakage in cost-saving. It stops sourcing teams from realizing that cost savings come only from a negotiated contract.

Increased Process Cost

Although not a problem for big companies, small and growing businesses have to pay for an additional cost for rogue spending. The Accounts Purchasing AP team and the purchasing are mostly affected.

Operational Risk

Employees purchasing without guidance from sourcing consultants and not having any prior knowledge about the vendors lead to a definite risk. Unauthorized vendors pose potential risk threats that might be fatal for growing companies. An uncertified part in machinery can cause its breakdown in the middle of the manufacturing process and would definitely make a dent in the company’s profit.

Steps To Lessen Maverick Spending

Controlling maverick spending is often a challenge for finance professionals. Many growing companies struggle with it and often have to seek professional help for efficient strategies. The following are some of the easy steps to follow to control rogue spending:

Find Out the Root Causes

Once you find out the departments largely involved in maverick spending, talk to the department heads, the managers, and the responsible stakeholders to understand the reason behind the purchase. The problem needs to be addressed at its roots and you need to know the exact reason why there is a surge of maverick spending in all parts of your organization. A thorough investigation would find out the probable causes and then you can implement strategies to reduce the problem. Using procurement analytics with a combination of procurement and spend can mitigate rogue spending.

Plan The Initiatives

Address the issues sincerely after you have found the root causes. If you have an overall comprehensive plan for your procurement initiatives, start working on it. Define your goals and targets and mark the tasks carefully so that you can reach the deadline on time and also fulfill your responsibilities on the way.

Report to Business Stakeholders

Reporting data-driven facts for transparency and for driving compliance is always advised by procurement subcontractors. When managers, heads and stakeholders have insights regarding your company’s spend both inside and outside contracts, curbing down expenses becomes easier. The internal communications and reports must highlight the parts of maverick spending. As the matter of rogue spending is the main focus of the study, you can also give additional information regarding your goals, expectations and current initiatives for benefit.

Make Procurement Policies Accessible

Unclear communication of contracts and defective policies can be the main causes of rogue spending within a company. More often than not, the buyers and the purchasers are not aware of the agreements and do not have enough information on using them. To avoid such situations, you have to ensure that procurement policies and contact details are easily accessible to all in your company. If you already have a spend management solution, sharing vital information gets easier. You now have options to give access to contracts for potential users or use APIs to get the contact information.

Implementing regular measurement procedures within your organization helps your employees to remain focused and make smarter decisions for overall improvement. Sourcing consultants opine that digital tools help in controlling maverick spending. You have to let everyone know about the risks involved in being associated with unauthorized or non-preferred vendors. The strategy of keeping a check on rogue spending is based on what has caused it in the first place. With a professional’s help, you simply have to design a solution to bring an end to the problem.

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