In small businesses, the procurement management of service contracts (especially consulting ones) often faces challenges in process coordination. We currently run two processes in parallel:

  • Contract negotiation: Handled by the corporate development team, with contracts signed by company executives;
  • Procurement process: Requires contracts to be entered into the purchase order (PO) system so that finance is aware of committed amounts and approvals comply with amount threshold limits.

However, the two processes often become disconnected: sometimes contracts are signed and entered into the PO system, but the corporate development team does not archive them; sometimes contracts are executed, but finance is not informed until the first invoice is due.

We would like to know whether other small companies encounter similar situations, and whether there are processes or feedback mechanisms we can learn from. Given our limited team size, we need to use existing resources efficiently. We look forward to your experience sharing. Thank you!