Accounting also enhances or minimizes Purchasing's clout and reputation with vendors. This is a result of how fast Accounting pays invoices.
Think about it. If you were the vendor, to whom would you give the best attention - an account that constantly paid their bills on time or an account that had to be chased to pay invoice after invoice? If Purchasing wants to negotiate better payment terms somewhere along the way, it will be extremely helpful to point out that Accounting has always paid the bills on time.
In order to set up a new vendor in most systems, Purchasing will need Accounting to perform some part of the process like providing financial/credit information or signing off on internal forms. When a Buyer is hurrying to meet a deadline to negotiate a contract or bring a new product into inventory, it sure will make life easier if the Accounting contact does his or her part quickly.
By catching pricing anomalies or other invoice issues, Accounting also acts as a partner to Purchasing for enforcing contract terms. After all, if Procurement doesn't know a problem exists, it can't be fixed. Although the constant questioning of invoices can be wearisome, be thankful. A complacent Accounting Department that just lets anything go through is not going to be the one to get blamed when a contract audit reveals the vendors have not complied with the pricing terms. That blame will fall upon Purchasing.
Plan to work well with Accounting. It will benefit you as much as it benefits them.
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