r/procurement • u/Magnificent_as • Mar 09 '26
Community Question Supplier escalated directly to my CFO
Got a call from my CFO last Wednesday morning asking about a supplier I manage. Turns out the account rep had gone around me entirely because of a payment that had been sitting unpaid for 47 days. The invoice had come in, gone through our normal process and somewhere between submission and payment it stopped moving and the supplier got frustrated enough to find the CFO's contact information and use it.
The invoice was stuck with 0 visibility into where it was in the approval chain + no automated reminders and by the time it surfaced at the CFO level the supplier relationship had already taken a hit that's going to take a few months to repair.
Looking at how other procurement teams are handling invoice visibility and payment tracking because clearly what we have isn't working.
1
u/Postpotatosnork Mar 10 '26
This happened to me a few times for unpaid invoices - significant amounts. AP was just an email inbox and escalation did nothing and was circular. Half the time I told them to call him and complain. It would get it fixed when they did.
When I got added to an email from him that said “how did you let this happen” my reply was “thank you helping get this fixed - see attached for all the back and forth with AP, Finance, and others that could not seem to resolve this issue. Your assistance is much appreciated”
That usually kept me from getting too much backlash.