Purchasing managers need knowledge in the following areas:

• Administration and Management: How to run a business or group.
• Customer and Personal Service: Providing special services to customers based on their needs.
• English Language: The meaning and use of the English language.
• Law, Government, and Jurisprudence: Laws, rules of the court, and the politics.
• Economics and Accounting: Banking and business.
• Computers and Electronics: Computer hardware and software.
• Mathematics: The rules and uses of numbers.
• Clerical: General office work such as filling and storing information.
• Personnel and Human Resources: The policies to hire and retain employees.
• Education and Training: The methods of teaching and learning.