How ideal is it for an accountant to get Fundamentals of procurement?
Vital. An accountant will-if successful- hold the purse strings of an organization as CFO- or have approval on expenses up to a tidy sum as Controller- and at the least be in a position to be a pain to 70% of the organization as accounting clerk holding up payment over minor errors that he/she could easily correct. A foundation course showing how the business hinges together is important. A potential area of conflict will be quality- because its an intangible asset for a company - so if the accountant has no concept of Quality, the the purchase of a special gauge (for example) will be a frivolous expenditure because QC already has a set of micrometers. Roadblock that someone needs to write a justification for and delays progress, annoys QC and the customer who has been getting product that is almost out of spec. If this goes on to a CFO with no concept of quality either then the gauge is very likely not to be bought and the business is likely to become less profitable due to either lost sales or customer returns. The CEO might overrule and the gauge may be bought- but theres potentially a lot of bad blood and customer dissatisfaction in the meantime. As for procurement, again without concept of Quality regulations and supplier control the cheapest supplier gets the business and the business operating unit gets the headaches of dealing with poorly made components, or late deliveries, or general conflict. The poor performance of the manufacturing unit is blamed on lack of initiative or carelessness when the reality is that the quality of the procurements is not assured and not reliable. So Im all for everyone having at least an introductory course in Quality Assurance and Quality Control as these disciplines and concepts relate to procurement in particular and to the financial health of an organization in general. My experience for the past 35+ years has been in and around procurement so Im taking these examples straight from my own life.