A makeover for finance: How Salonkee streamlined spend across borders

Why Payhawk was the perfect fit

Salonkee considered other tools, including one they used at a previous company. But Payhawk stood out, particularly in usability. Kelly-Ann:

Compared to the other solutions, Payhawk’s interface felt more intuitive, easier to navigate, and more complete

Salon-worthy results: structure and spend visibility

Since rolling out Payhawk, Salonkee’s finance team isn’t just working faster. They’re working smarter. Processes that used to eat up hours are now completed in minutes. The result? More time, fewer mistakes, and way better control. Arina shared:

“If a supplier asks about a payment, we don’t have to guess anymore. We check Payhawk and instantly know if it was paid, when, or if we never received it.”

Because everything from company cards to reimbursements to invoices now flows through one platform, the team can act faster and more proactively. No more end-of-month marathons, no more email chains and less chasing receipts. Kelly: “If we were still using our old system, booking the same volume of invoices would take much longer. We save hours each month.”

Reimbursements used to be scattered and unpredictable. Now, they’re consistent, and employees have clear expectations. Arina shared that the reimbursement happens twice a month now: “It’s more organised, and employees are happier”.

This structure also gives other teams, like HR, better visibility into employee behaviour. Arina:

It’s easier to spot outliers. Who submits regularly? Who’s claiming excessive team dinners? Who never claims anything at all? Payhawk helps us track it all”

A clearer picture: turning spend data into smart decisions

Beyond streamlining day-to-day tasks, Payhawk has become a powerful source of insight for Salonkee’s finance team. With clean, centralised data across cards, reimbursements, and invoices, they’ve gone from reactive to analytical. Gaining visibility not just into what was spent, but why, by whom, and how often. Kelly:

“We’ve become more analytical. We can break down our cost drivers, understand what’s effective and what’s not, and figure out where we can improve.”

This visibility also empowers better cross-functional collaboration. HR now has a clearer view of employee spending patterns, helping to flag unusual or inconsistent behaviour early on. Arina shared:

“We can see if someone is consistently asking for reimbursements, or if they’re claiming things that don’t align with our internal policies. That transparency helps us keep things fair and in check.”

And it’s not just about control, it’s about confidence. Whether it’s budgeting, spotting inefficiencies, or preparing for audits, Salonkee’s finance team is now working from a single source of truth. Kelly:
“[Payhawk] helped us make better decisions. We’re not just spending, we’re learning from it.”

Payhawk is an all-in-one platform, and Salonkee benefits from that too. In the video below, we show you what we do..

Features that make a difference

From company cards and reimbursements to accounts payable, Salonkee’s finance flows are now all in one place. Arina:

“We no longer need multiple tools. Payhawk simplifies everything. We can filter by supplier, amount, or department. It’s just easier.”

Key features in use:

• Accounts Payable: All invoices go through Payhawk, even if not all are paid via the platform. They’re marked as paid, categorised, and stored in one central place.
• Budgets and card controls: Managers can request top-ups with a note, and limits are easy to adjust. “They just describe what it’s for, and we decide if it aligns with policy,” says Arina.
• Reimbursement visibility: Now that Payhawk shows exactly who’s submitting what and when, HR and finance can better monitor spending habits across departments.

They’ve also added Purchase Orders (POs). Although not yet actively used, the motivation behind requesting it reveals a lot about the challenges they were facing and the direction they want to grow into. Arina:

“The team that requested POs was looking for more visibility on budgets and a clearer approval structure. They wanted to avoid going to a manager every time and instead have a simple system: create a request, get a yes or no.”

Multi-entity management, without the headache

Operating across different countries and finance systems can get messy. Salonkee uses Exact Online in the Netherlands, and for example, DATEV in Germany. With Payhawk, they’ve now got one view across everything, with the multi-entity management feature, even if they’re not consolidating just yet. Arina:

“Each entity has its own rules, but we still use the dashboard to check budgets and see if funding is needed. It gives us flexibility.”

The human touch: working with Payhawk

What truly stands out for Salonkee? The support and collaboration. Arina:

“The support team is fantastic. I always get help within seconds. We’ve become friends, really.”

With a growing footprint across Europe and an expanding finance team, Salonkee needed a tool that could evolve with them. Payhawk didn’t just help them bring order to the chaos, it gave them the visibility, structure, and confidence to scale without compromise. Curious what Payhawk could mean to you? Schedule a demo.