Olivier Audino
In many organisations, maverick spending is one of the main causes of budget drift. Purchases made outside the official process, without approval and often in a hurry, fragment data, multiply suppliers and generate administrative costs far above the value of the order itself.
Reducing maverick spending is not only a matter of internal discipline. It is a question of visibility, governance and operational performance. When purchases happen outside the process, the company loses its ability to negotiate, control costs and guarantee documentation and compliance.
By contrast, an organisation that centralises requests, automates approval workflows and consolidates data can turn these uncontrolled behaviours into a clear, traceable and measurable process. Artificial intelligence applied to procurement now plays a key role in this transformation, as explained in: AI in procurement: Keys to Optimized Management.
In this article, we analyse what causes maverick spending, the risks it creates and which operational levers allow you to reduce it by up to 50%, with an immediate impact on cost, productivity and governance.
Maverick spending occurs when an employee buys products or services directly without following the defined purchasing process. In most cases this is not bad faith, but the result of missing tools, poor supplier coverage or processes that are too complex for operational teams.
When the approval workflow is too slow, not transparent enough or involves too many stakeholders, operational teams naturally look for shortcuts. Manual processes based on email, PDFs and informal approvals inevitably lead to off-process purchasing.
When the supplier panel does not cover urgent needs, technical requirements or spot purchases, operational teams resort to improvised solutions that are often not compliant. This is especially true in the tail spend, the most difficult part of spend to control: Centralization of Purchasing: Optimizing Costs and Logistics Efficiency .
A purchasing policy that is too complex or poorly communicated inevitably creates confusion. If the rules are not accessible and integrated in the tools that people use every day, employees do not know which channel to use and choose parallel routes.
Maverick spending is often perceived as “small, harmless purchases”. In reality, it is one of the biggest drivers of total cost and loss of budgetary control. Its impact is economic, administrative, documentary and strategic.
Each off-process purchase generates additional manual work: supplier creation, informal approvals, accounting entries, reconciliation, exception handling and endless email exchanges. The internal administrative cost can easily exceed the value of the order itself.
A solid KPI and spend analysis makes these drifts visible and helps identify one-off suppliers, isolated invoices, unexplained price variations and the categories most exposed to off-process orders: Essential KPIs to Boost Purchasing Performance .
Maverick purchases bypass the logic of volume, contracting and negotiation. The result is nearly always a higher price, often list price, without discounts, framework agreements or guaranteed service levels.
Each off-process purchase introduces new low-volume suppliers, creating:
A maverick purchase often means no contract, no document checks and no compliance controls. This is particularly sensitive in the current European regulatory context.
The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) requires companies to strengthen oversight of their value chains, including suppliers and subcontractors. Uncontrolled purchases are directly at odds with this obligation to manage risk and due diligence.
International standards such as ISO 31000 – Risk management provide a framework to integrate maverick spending into a broader risk management approach.
For the sustainability and supplier dimension, ISO 20400 – Sustainable procurement is the key reference for aligning purchasing practices with ESG and responsible sourcing requirements.
Reducing maverick spending is not achieved through a simple internal reminder. It is a structural change that requires proper governance, tools, training and automation. Companies that obtain tangible, sustainable results usually apply a progressive methodology.
The first step is identifying where deviations occur:
A robust KPI and spend analysis can make a real difference: Essential KPIs to Boost Purchasing Performance .
To reduce maverick spending, the organisation needs a single entry point for every purchase request: a portal, an e-procurement tool or a digital “front office” for purchasing.
A simple, fast, fully digital workflow eliminates most off-process behaviours. Electronic approvals reduce lead times, increase transparency and enforce compliance.
Tail spend is the main source of maverick purchasing. Centralising it through a single supplier allows you to:
When the need is not covered by a catalogue, structured sourcing is essential: comparing offers, checking compliance, assessing risk and selecting the best available supplier.
Without monitoring, maverick spending comes back. Key KPIs include:
Reducing maverick spending is a major achievement; eliminating it completely is transformative. Companies that succeed combine technology, governance, supplier strategy and change management.
Centralising purchasing – especially tail spend and urgent orders – significantly reduces information fragmentation, marginal suppliers and isolated invoices. For more on this topic: Centralization of Purchasing: Optimizing Costs and Logistics Efficiency .
P2P automation is the core lever to prevent off-process behaviour. The simpler, clearer and faster the process, the more natural it becomes to follow it:
For the technology angle, see: Optimize Your Purchases with Innovative SaaS Solutions .
Recurring needs should be covered by an up-to-date digital catalogue; technical or complex needs can be handled through active sourcing or specialised outsourcing.
In industrial environments with frequent emergencies: Spot Purchasing in Industry: Flexibility and Key Responsiveness .
Monthly tracking of off-panel spend and risk indicators allows you to act before problems become structural. Monitoring should involve:
Maverick spending does not only create inefficiency. It significantly increases operational, legal, financial and governance risks. Most of these risks remain invisible until flows and data are centralised.
An off-process purchase may be made from an unqualified supplier, without a contract, without documentation checks and without compliance with legal obligations. In the context of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive , lack of traceability and control is a major exposure.
Without technical validation, clear specifications or comparison of alternatives, the risk of buying unsuitable, non-compliant or incompatible products increases significantly. This can lead to delays, rework or even production downtime.
Maverick spending generates:
A supplier selected outside the process may not meet environmental, social or governance requirements. International standards such as ISO 20400 on sustainable procurement highlight supplier evaluation and selection as a critical step in supply chain risk management.
With non-centralised data, the organisation cannot:
Reducing maverick spending is a major step, but eliminating it requires a systemic approach combining policy, tools, supplier coverage and automation. The objective is not to penalise internal users, but to offer them a path that is faster and easier than going directly to suppliers.
A policy that is too complex will never be applied. It must be concise, easy to understand and embedded in the tools people use every day (intranet, purchasing portal, ERP, ticketing).
The supplier panel must cover:
Standards such as ISO 20400 help structure supplier panels based on risk, performance and responsibility.
If a user can submit a request in minutes and easily track its status, bypassing the process is no longer attractive. Automation removes dead time, errors and informal approvals.
A single entry point – a portal, digital front office or single supplier for tail spend – ensures that all requests follow the same process with the same level of traceability.
This approach is particularly effective in manufacturing and industrial environments: Spot Purchasing in Industry: Flexibility and Key Responsiveness.
Maverick spending is one of the main sources of economic and operational leakage in organisations. It generates high administrative costs, non-negotiated prices, documentation risks and loss of visibility over real spend.
With the right combination of governance, digitalisation, automation and supplier coverage, it is possible to reduce maverick spending by 30–50% and obtain much tighter control over spend flows. A modern, simple and integrated purchasing process not only prevents off-process behaviour, it also improves internal efficiency and the quality of decision-making.
For the technology and data angle, see also: Optimize Your Purchases with Innovative SaaS Solutions .
Contact our experts to analyse your process and reduce maverick spending.
Maverick spending refers to purchases made outside the official procurement process: without approval, without a qualified supplier and without being recorded in the company’s systems. These purchases escape governance and generate hidden costs and risks.
The main causes are: slow or complex processes, lack of suppliers for urgent or technical needs, poor communication of the purchasing policy and manual workflows based on email.
Key risks include: documentation and compliance issues, non-negotiated prices, operational errors, lack of traceability, legal exposure, an inflated supplier base and loss of budget control.
The main indicators are: off-panel purchases, one-off invoices, one-time suppliers, price discrepancies, orders placed by email or phone and suppliers not registered in the ERP.
No. Technical or urgent buys can also be made outside the process with significant impact on total cost and service quality.
The most effective levers are: a single entry point, an automated workflow, a single supplier for tail spend, active sourcing and continuous KPI monitoring.
A single supplier for tail spend reduces marginal suppliers, centralises requests, stabilises prices and improves documentation and compliance. It is one of the most effective ways to cut maverick spending by 30–50%.
Yes. An untracked purchase can breach legal obligations or internal procedures. In the context of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, lack of traceability and oversight is a serious risk.
Spot buying is urgent or one-off purchasing that can still be executed through a controlled process and qualified suppliers. Maverick spending is always off-process, off-approval and off-panel.
Yes, if the organisation deploys a process that is simpler and faster than the shortcuts: single entry point, automation, comprehensive supplier panel and clear KPIs.
The ROI comes from: lower unit prices, fewer invoices to process, less administrative effort, higher transparency and better data for negotiation.
AI automatically identifies off-panel purchases, flags price anomalies, speeds up approvals, checks supplier compliance and strengthens overall governance of the purchasing process.
Voici les éléments SEO anglais complets, optimisés pour la version EN de ton article, cohérents avec BME, le marché anglophone B2B, et l’intention forte (réduction du maverick spending).
.svg){kind=small}