State of Play gains real-time venue insights

As State of Play expanded its portfolio of venues across the UK and the US, its finance operations became increasingly complex. The team relied on a mix of traditional corporate cards, manual processes, and disconnected tools like Bill.com and NetSuite.

This setup created constant switching between systems, limited visibility across entities, and slowed down payments and approvals. Finance often became a bottleneck, while venue teams lacked the autonomy to manage their own spend effectively. Without a unified view, tracking budgets and analysing performance across venues was time-consuming and reactive.

State of Play implemented Payhawk to unify cards, expenses, and accounts payable across all entities into a single platform. Finance teams now have a real-time view of spend across every venue, with the ability to switch between entities instantly.

Custom categorisation allows every transaction to be tagged by venue and general ledger code, giving precise control over how spend is tracked and reported. At the same time, venue managers are empowered with company cards and built-in limits, so they can manage budgets directly without relying on finance for every transaction.

Seamless integration with NetSuite ensures that all expenses, invoices, and receipts are automatically captured and synced, eliminating manual reconciliation.

With Payhawk, State of Play has transformed how it manages and analyses spend. Finance teams can now monitor budgets in real time, quickly identify variances, and act on overspending before it becomes an issue.

Venue managers track their own expenses against budgets, creating greater accountability and reducing reliance on finance. What was once a fragmented, manual process is now continuous and transparent.

This level of visibility enables deeper performance insights — from overall venue profitability down to specific cost categories — helping the business make faster, more informed decisions.