Virtual Card Charge Reconciliation Against Purchase Orders
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional electronic procurement systems and card payment reconciliation processes are inefficient, requiring extensive computer resources, manual review, and lack vendor-level visibility, leading to delays and increased costs in high-volume buying scenarios.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a computer-implemented method that uses virtual credit cards for automatic reconciliation of charges with purchase orders, eliminating the need for electronic invoicing and providing vendor-level visibility by associating each charge with the corresponding supplier through a triple linkage of purchase orders to charges and credit card statements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If traditional manual reconciliation of card charges against invoices and purchase orders is performed, then vendor visibility is achieved through detailed review, but processing time and labor costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical review process with an automated computer-implemented system that performs reconciliation by matching virtual card charge data with purchase order data through electronic data processing, eliminating the need for manual document review while maintaining full vendor visibility
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service reconciliation where the computer automatically matches charges to purchase orders using embedded logic and algorithms, with the virtual card data structure inherently containing vendor identification information that enables automatic vendor-level visibility without human intervention
2Loss of information
If extensive document retrieval and transmission is performed in traditional procurement systems, then complete transaction information is available, but network bandwidth and computing resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential reconciliation data elements from the complete transaction documentation - specifically vendor identification, charge amount, and purchase order reference - from the virtual card charge statements, allowing reconciliation to proceed with minimal data transmission while maintaining information completeness
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary data preparation by structuring virtual card charge data to include embedded vendor identification and purchase order correlation information before the reconciliation process begins, eliminating the need for subsequent document retrieval and data gathering operations
3Ease of operation
If traditional card payment reconciliation is performed without virtual cards, then payment processing is simple, but vendor identification is lost and reconciliation requires manual intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual card system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it processes payments like traditional cards while also carrying embedded vendor identification and purchase order correlation data, enabling both simple payment processing and automated reconciliation through the same transaction mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual card acts as an intermediary that bridges payment processing and procurement reconciliation by embedding purchase order reference information within the charge transaction itself, allowing the system to automatically match charges to purchase orders without manual intervention
Data Source
AI summary
A programmed computer-implemented method allows enterprises to pay transactions using a virtual credit card at the time of an approved purchase order. The approach maintains corporate controls relating to requisitions and purchase orders, eliminates the need for electronic invoicing, and automates the accounting and reconciliation of virtual credit card charges. For example, a particular line item in a card statement, representing a particular charge event, is automatically reconciled to the correct purchase order. For another example, each charge represented in a card statement can be associated with the supplier that is identified in a corresponding PO. Therefore, a computer graphical user interface (GUI) can show vendor identification at any time, whereas most buyers are not able to see the true vendor in spend data on a credit card charge, as the vendor is typically just represented as the issuing bank.