From the President and CEO: Finding the Seams
March 1, 2008
Jim A. Kaitz, AFP

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Dear AFP Members:

We often talk about finding the “seams” between one discipline and the next, the place where one topic is so strongly influenced by another that they become linked. In a global and wired business environment, payments are now linked to many other disciplines.

Increasingly, corporate payments touch the discipline of risk management. At this month’s Payments Forum in Arizona, we are releasing results of our 2008 Payments Fraud Survey, highlighted here. Kevin Roth and Arlene Chapman write in “Payments Best Defenses” that payments fraud impacted almost three quarters of organizations last year. AFP members have put a number of measures in place to protect their organizations, especially moving to electronic payments. Nick Wood also writes about preventing payments fraud in “Fear Factor” on page 42 of the magazine.

Or, as Patrick O’Brien writes in his risk management article: “You can’t “wing it” when you’re dealing with issues that can bankrupt organizations, eliminate investor wealth or land people in jail.”

With more middle-market companies dealing with international transactions, payments touch a number of global issues, from FX to staffing to banking regulations. Bruce Lynn, who writes frequently on the AFP Discussion Lists, has a primer in this issue.

Of course, payments are also linked to cash flow forecasting. It is widely known that the use of electronic payments can increase cash forecasting accuracy and reduce borrowings, a topic of one of the sessions at the Payments Forum.

Even with all the new systems and technology that provide payments visibility, there are many decisions to be made when building a payments infrastructure. In this issue, Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America showcases the system they have implemented.

Looking ahead, we are putting the final touches on the AFP Retail Treasury Forum, which convenes next month in Atlanta. We will continue the dialog about payments and e-commerce specific to the retail industry.

Count on AFP to be Your Daily Resource, to help you find “the seams.”

--Jim Kaitz

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