Company cards: 6 tips for better expense management

Besides many other problems with manual reimbursements, there is a certain lack of control from the finance team on what’s being spent where. Also, expense reports from employees many times come late and inaccurate.

It’s not much better from the side of the employees, who often complain about delays in reimbursements and cumbersome processes to follow and hoops to jump through.

It’s surprisingly simple to elevate your expense management for the finance team and for everyone else in the company.  The solution is in the form of corporate debit cards, empowering everyone to do their jobs more efficiently.

Corporate debit cards are payment cards issued by a company to any of its employees for use on business expenses such as mileage, accommodation, meals, or small purchases, but also for everyday business operations such as subscriptions or other online payments outside of invoicing.

This way employees can purchase on behalf of the company without using their personal cards to pay.

Next-generation business debit cards

When you combine corporate cards with an all-in-one expense management software, you translate the old tired way of managing expenses into a streamlined process that will give financial control back to the business.

Check these strategies for financial control and employee engagement, all of them attainable when you join Payhawk.

1. Make sure everyone that needs a card, has one

Most organizations only give cards to a very limited number of people, leaving everyone else exposed to using their own money. Or probably worse, leading to details being shared in non-secure ways.

To be in control of company outgoings, you need to make sure everyone that needs to spend, has a corporate debit card. This way you can shift from being reactive (paying expenses after the fact) to being proactive, setting budgets beforehand.

With Payhawk, giving cards to your employees is instantaneous, as you can choose between virtual cards that are created instantaneously, as well as traditional physical cards.

2. Change from thinking that cards are only for people

Costs come ultimately from people, but there can be huge accounting and management gains by creating cards for specific teams or functions.  This way also, you can for example limit spending on your online advertising, or keep your subscriptions under control with a card just for that purpose.  The possibilities are endless when you start thinking in this way.

3. Set clear limits on each card

Let’s say an employee uses the finance director’s company card to manage advertising campaigns online. A mistake in the campaign configuration can lead to the employee spending more budget than was meant to.

This can be avoided by issuing cards with limit controls specific to each employee. Following the above example, the campaign budget would have been protected.

Limits can help your employees feel in control of the situation too, with clear guidelines on how much they can spend. But also what types of payments are accepted. Can they withdraw money from an ATM?

4. Centralize all approval flows

Finance teams have to do all the legwork in documenting and accounting for all cost centers in the business, sometimes dealing with employees with poor organization skills.

A simple yet powerful tactic is to manage all requests for budget, including unforeseen ones in the same platform so that you can request whatever information is needed for approval. By using Payhawk, you will not only get this, but with integrations with ERP and accounting systems such as QuickBooks, it’s a breeze to do the job.

5. Avoid delaying anyone in the business

With traditional methods of expense management, a lot of time is wasted on admin and delays due to late approvals.

With Payhawk, employees access funds instantly and can easily request additional funds, giving finance teams more visibility in the process.

6. Protect the business bank account

Whilst traditional business credit cards are linked to the business accounts, with Payhawk, you have your own wallet,  reducing the risk of exposing your own bank account.

As we’ve seen, it’s a lot that you can achieve with all-in-one finance software, uniting next-gen company cards and expense management in the same mighty platform. And it doesn’t need to cost the earth.

Download the ebook, Company cards vs cash: How to build your cashless business, to learn how corporate debit and credit cards can offer more spend visibility and security at your company. If you are ready to learn more about Payhawk, book a demo with us today.