How DECATHLON Bulgaria saves time and streamlines spending

This interview first appeared as an article in Manager.bg.

With 12 stores and counting, the DECATHLON team in Bulgaria needed a smarter way to manage expenses.

Enter Payhawk — a platform that automates finance tasks, eliminates manual work, and gives real-time control over spending.

With a passion for developing and optimising financial processes, Nikolay Dimitrov, Finance and Accounting Manager at DECATHLON Bulgaria plays a key role in streamlining operations at the company. Here, he shares how digital transformation has reshaped their financial processes and why introducing Payhawk really helped change the game.

The impact? Two fewer days spent on expense tracking each month, fewer emergency payment requests, and a much more efficient accounting team.

Nikolay Dimitrov describes:

Our accounting department now spends two fewer days per month tracking, posting, and analysing expense reports thanks to Payhawk

Nikolay, as Finance and Accounting Manager at DECATHLON Bulgaria, what are your expectations for business growth this year?

I’ve been part of the DECATHLON team since 2015, and over the years, I’ve witnessed the company’s dynamic growth firsthand.

Now, after a year as Accounting and Finance Manager, I’m even more convinced that our core strengths — affordable, high-quality sporting goods, a customer-centric approach, and continuous innovation — drive our success in the Bulgarian market.

This year, we plan to further expand our presence by focusing on digitalisation, sustainability, and optimising business processes.

How do technology and digital transformation impact DECATHLON’s financial processes?

Technology and digital transformation are crucial to streamlining financial operations at DECATHLON. They allow us to automate expense management, enhance control, and make better-informed decisions.

Payhawk plays a key role in our digital transformation, as their spend management platform integrates seamlessly with our existing systems. Plus, we’ve eliminated manual data entry with automation and gained a clear, real-time overview of company spending.

You’ve gone from one Bulgarian store in 2013 to 12 locations today. What challenges have come with managing such growth?

Expanding our store network has increased both the volume of expense transactions and the complexity of managing them. Payhawk helps us tackle these challenges by automating data collection, invoice and receipt processing, and report generation. This automation not only saves us time but also massively reduces the administrative burden and risk of human error.

Additionally, Payhawk gives us complete control over spend. Corporate cards with individual limits and approval workflows help us monitor and manage employee expenses more efficiently.

Another major advantage is being able to track spending by store and administrative units in real time, which enables us to optimise our budgets effectively.

What were the key factors in your decision to use Payhawk’s platform for expense management?

We needed a solution that offered easy-to-manage corporate credit cards, greater visibility, control over expenses, and a way to reduce manual processes in handling accounting documents. Payhawk checked all these boxes.

Its seamless integration with our accounting systems — and ability to process expense reports — quickly made it an obvious choice. Its automation has significantly reduced the time and effort required for administrative tasks, allowing our team to focus on higher-value work.

What has changed since implementing Payhawk? What measurable results have you seen?

Since adopting Payhawk, we’ve cut down the time spent processing expense documents by four hours per week. That translates to our accounting department saving two full working days a month, previously spent tracking, posting, and analysing expenses.

We’ve also seen a drop in employee emergency payment requests, which saves additional time and effort. Instead, each manager now has a corporate card with a set monthly limit, allowing them to make necessary business purchases without delays. And, if employees need additional funds, they can simply submit a request via the Payhawk app, and once approved, the money is available instantly. The process is fast, efficient, and hassle-free!

By automating these tasks, we’ve freed our finance team up to focus on more strategic initiatives rather than routine administrative work. I truly believe Payhawk is an invaluable tool for any company looking to optimise financial processes and improve spend management.

Transform your retail finance operations with Payhawk

Managing expenses across multiple store locations is complex, but it doesn’t need to be. With Payhawk, you can automate finance processes, gain real-time visibility over spend, and empower your team with more intelligent controls.

Join retailers like DECATHLON Bulgaria in simplifying expense management and freeing valuable time for strategic growth. Book a personalised, expert demo to see how Payhawk could help you scale your retail operations quickly and easily.