Group CFO? Get the complete guide to multi-entity spend control (feat' top CFO insights)
Group CFO? Get the complete guide to multi-entity spend control (feat' top CFO insights)
Aventum Group is a leading global insurance business, operating across underwriting, broking, risk management, and analytics. With over 450 employees across the UK, USA, Ireland, Dubai, Mauritius, and beyond, the group handles an impressive £1.9 billion in GWP, with a focus on building specialist schemes and strong relationships.
Before switching to Payhawk, Aventum’s Group Finance Team saw an opportunity to improve their spend management processes. The team was working hard to support the growing business and wanted to introduce more efficient systems to help them scale their efforts.
Pre-Payhawk, employees had to submit expenses manually through Excel spreadsheets and PDFs, which line managers then approved via email. Despite the team’s best efforts, the systems in place couldn’t keep up with the company’s growth, and reimbursements could take up to 45 days.
At the same time, the finance team spent time chasing receipts, entering expense data into NetSuite, managing late submissions that slowed down financial reporting, and navigating slow bank processes.
Aventum’s team knew there had to be a more efficient way and wanted to empower their finance team to focus on adding more value to the business.
Tim Green, Head of Finance Transformation at Aventum Group, explains:
Before Payhawk, we realised we needed to improve our spend management processes and visibility. As we grew, we noticed that year-end often led to a surge in expenses all at once, and we knew there was a better way. Credit cards also presented challenges; cards can occasionally get lost and go missing, and we wanted a system that would support us in quickly cancelling and reissuing them without risk.
“The US business spends in dollars and the UK spends in GBP etc, but all in Payhawk. This means we can see the spend all in one place. Previously entity spend was quite separate but now we work across entities, letting teams cooperate and work together”
Since switching to our solution, the Group Finance team at Aventum has completely eliminated spreadsheets and manual processes.
Employees now simply submit expenses via the Payhawk app by snapping receipts in real time and categorising spend in seconds via the OCR. Once approved, they’re auto-reimbursed in a few days after line manager approval.
The transformation for the finance team is even more dramatic. Using our solution, they’ve completely eliminated manual data entry into NetSuite, saving over two weeks of admin work every month.
Alex Curme, Group CFO at Aventum Group, says:
Now, every expense flows seamlessly into NetSuite in real time. No more chasing receipts, no more delays… We’ve freed up weeks of work for our team, and we have complete finance visibility to support our decisions! Plus, our employees love it!
And the visibility really is all-encompassing. The Aventum team manages corporate cards, reimbursements, expense management, accounts payable, and most of their procurement through our solution, meaning all of their spend is easy to track in one place.
All of the above goes a long way toward simplifying the approval processes for everyone involved, too. Tim explains, “Line managers get an email each day with all their approvals in one place: fund requests, invoices, credit card, etc. It saves a lot of time.”
Travel and entertainment are major costs for Aventum, including key client meetings, trips, and events.
Their story was no different from that of most growing businesses. Before switching to us, managing high volumes of on-the-go spend (including lost or stolen cards) was a challenge for both finance and the wider team.
Tim explains:
Credit cards from the bank were hard to use, especially when there were issues. You couldn’t adjust limits quickly or replace cards easily when they got lost.
Now, the story looks very different. At Payhawk, we immediately flag non-business expenses via transaction notifications so the finance team can freeze the cards and issue new ones to prevent misuse.
Managing 11 subsidiaries across multiple countries meant Aventum needed a multi-entity management solution that could scale with them and offer complete insight over spend, even across borders. But before switching to us, the FP&A team faced a time lag before they could see actual spend across their entities.
The team recognised the need for a system to prevent late expense submissions and manual reallocations across systems, while eliminating financial blind spots and speeding up budget insights for decision-making.
Now, they can view spend in real time across all entities, currencies, and departments. The finance team has instant visibility into global spend, allowing them to make informed decisions, prevent overspending, and seamlessly enforce policy compliance.
With an expanding workforce, the team at Aventum loves our solution’s scalability, too. It takes them just a few minutes to set someone up securely with a card (and controls). Plus, there’s no delay with card usage as the solution is so intuitive. We also provide training videos and articles, again saving Aventum’s finance team time.
The collaboration across multiple entities is vital, too. Alex explains, “The US business spends in dollars and the UK spends in GBP, etc, but all in Payhawk. This means we can see the spend all in one place. Previously, entity spend was quite separate, but now we work across entities, letting teams cooperate and work together”
Tim describes:
As we scale, we need systems that scale with us. We’ve rolled out Payhawk to all businesses across the UK, Ireland, and the USA. It’s really helped us scale, as we can easily add new companies, credit cards, employees, etc., and just keep moving.
Aventum also moved its procurement processes into our platform via purchase orders (PO), enabling managers to approve supplier invoices and process payments all in one place.
Before, supplier payments required multiple approvals across different platforms, causing delays. Now, they’ve centralised everything, saving hours every week.
Tim shares, “The PO features have given us a lot more visibility and control.. Now, with the approval workflows in PO, we can embed the controls in-house and give our procurement manager complete control."
The team has also begun leveraging their PO insights to support cost optimisation. For example, when the procurement lead sees ten invoices for the same supplier, she can consolidate them into one and negotiate a bulk discount, reducing spend and optimising cash flow.
Alex says:
It’s now much easier to spot opportunities for cost-saving and find discounts that help the bottom line.
Aventum Group’s finance transformation is a testament to the power of automation, real-time visibility, and financial control. What’s more, they’ve changed their entire spend culture by supporting efficiency and adding a layer of expense transparency across the company.
Tim describes: "Now, we can review T&E and easily compare last year's spending, for example, with the value it delivered. This allows us to ask the right questions and address any issues, helping us turn spend analysis into clear and actionable insight."
By switching to us, the Aventum team has changed its spend culture and replaced outdated manual processes with a scalable, multi-entity solution that empowers finance leaders to control spend, reduce fraud, and future-proof their operations.
Book a personalised demo today to see how your multi-entity businesses could make scaling and saving easier with us.