METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PURCHASE CARD UTILIZATION AND DATA RECONCILIATION WITH ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING/FINANCIAL SOFWARE

The present invention provides a system and method for using an organization's existing ERP to perform automated reconciliation of purchasing card transactions. A buyer receives invoices from a supplier requesting payment for goods or services. The buyer's ERP validates the invoice using, for example, a three-way match process. After three-way validation, and once the invoices come due, the buyer's ERP sends the supplier an e-mail remittance advice. This remittance advice includes the buyer's partially masked purchasing card details, and a unique payment number that was previously generated by the buyer's ERP, and that is associated with a corresponding open purchase order. The supplier submits a payment authorization request to a POS device by inputing the partially masked purchasing card details and the unique payment number from the buyer ERP's e-mailed remittance advice. The payment network processes the supplier's payment request in accordance with conventional payment network authorization procedures. Periodically the buyer's ERP receives purchasing card transaction data from the purchasing card issuer. The purchasing card transaction data details the buyer's purchasing card transactions for the preceding period. The purchasing card transaction details include the unique payment number that was generated by the buyer's ERP, and that was inputted to the POS by the supplier during the payment authorization process. The buyer's ERP may use the unique payment number to match the purchasing card transaction back to a corresponding open purchase order.