Title of Study or Research Topic
Potential Best-Practice Organization Screening Survey
General Information
YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME is currently conducting research into RESEARCH TOPIC. The
purpose of this survey is to identify organizations with successful practices in this area. In
exchange for completing this survey, each participant will receive a complimentary report
summarizing the results from the total pool of respondents (organization-specific information
blinded). We will invite select participants to participate in a brief follow-up phone interview.
Based on the information gathered, we will invite certain organizations to share detailed
information with our benchmarking team and possibly other organizations about their business
practices. Those top organizations can participate in the events and activities related to this
research project at no cost, learning from other high performers in RESEARCH TOPIC.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this short survey. If you have any questions or would
like more information about the project, please contact NAME at E-MAIL or PHONE NUMBER.
Your information will be kept completely confidential unless you give explicit permission to share.
Contact Information
Name:
Organization name:
Job title:
E-mail:
Phone:
Demographics
1.
Are you answering this survey for your whole organization or for a single division/business
unit?
Entire organization
A single division or business unit. Please identify this division or business unit:
A particular function (e.g., marketing, R&D). Please specify:
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2.
3.
To which industry does the entity you selected in Question 1 belong?
Aerospace/Defense
Food and Beverage
Oil and Gas
Automotive
Government
Services/Hotel/Retail
Banks/Financial/Real Estate
Healthcare/Pharmaceutical
Telecomm/Utilities
Chemicals/Petroleum/Energy
Insurance
Transportation
Computer Hardware/Software
IT Services
Other (please specify):
Consumer Goods
Mining
Electronics
Nonprofit
How many individuals are currently employed full-time by that entity? (Select one.)
Less than 100
100 –499
500 –999
1,000 –4,999
5,000 –9,999
10,000 or more employees
4.
For the most recently ended fiscal year, what was that entity’s gross revenue or budget in
U.S. dollars? (Select one.)
Less than $100 million
$100 million to less than $500 million
$500 million to less than $1 billion
$1 billion to less than $5 billion
$5 billion to less than $10 billion
$10 billion or more
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resource for benchmarks and best practices
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©2010 APQC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Processes and Practices
(Structure your questions as appropriate, limiting the number to 25. The following questions are
a sampling from an APQC working capital management screening survey.)
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
5.
Yes
Has the executive team at your organization taken steps to encourage and/or require
cross-functional collaboration to improve working capital management?
No
5a. If yes, please describe how:
6.
Which roles at your organization are directly responsible for the end‐to‐end working capital
management process? (Please provide specific job titles if possible.)
7.
Has your organization outsourced any part of its order‐to‐cash process (e.g., billing,
collections, dispute management, cash application)?
Yes
No
7a. If yes, please describe which processes:
8.
Yes
Has your organization outsourced any part of its procure‐to‐pay process (e.g.,
procurement, purchase order management, invoice auditing, invoice approval, payment
processing)?
No
8a. If yes, please describe which processes:
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resource for benchmarks and best practices
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©2010 APQC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TECHNOLOGY
9.
Do you use any of the following technologies/tools in your working capital management
processes: (Select all that apply.)
Entire organization
Optical character recognition technology
Imaging and workflow systems within accounts payable and/or accounts receivable
Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Web‐based technologies
Electronic invoice‐matching systems
Electronic funds transfer (EFT)
Preauthorized automated clearinghouse (ACH)
Financial electronic data interchange (FEDI)—a combination of EDI and ACH that allows
simultaneous invoice processing and payment transfer
Electronic invoice presentment and payment (EIPP) systems
Extensible business reporting language (XBRL)
E‐payables (card applications)
Check 21 – (remote capture and deposit)
STRATEGY
10. How satisfied are you that your organization understands the drivers of payment regularity
in your receivables portfolio? (Select only one.)
Dissatisfied
Somewhat dissatisfied
Neither satisfied or dissatisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Satisfied
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resource for benchmarks and best practices
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©2010 APQC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
11. How satisfied are you that your organization can identify and mitigate trade credit risk?
(Select only one.)
Dissatisfied
Somewhat dissatisfied
Neither satisfied or dissatisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Satisfied
12. To what extent do accounts payable and accounts receivable professionals’ analyses,
research, and recommendations influence the overall working capital management
strategy at your organization?
Not at all influential
Slightly influential
Moderately influential
Very influential
Extremely influential
OUTCOMES/MEASUREMENT
13. Have you demonstrated a linkage between working capital management and
organizational profitability at your organization?
Yes
No
13a. If yes, please describe:
14. If selected as a study best‐practice partner, what are the top three leading practices for
working capital management that study participants could learn from your organization?



Practice one:
Practice two:
Practice three:
15. Please provide any additional comments here:
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Research provided by APQC, the international
resource for benchmarks and best practices
K02408
©2010 APQC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Thank you for completing the screening survey for YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME’s RESEARCH
TOPIC research project. We look forward to providing you with a summary results report. We
may contact you to schedule a follow-up call to discuss your responses. If you have questions or
would like additional information about the project, please contact NAME at E-MAIL or PHONE
NUMBER.
Page 6 of 6
Research provided by APQC, the international
resource for benchmarks and best practices
K02408
©2010 APQC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED