A company expense card is a payment card used to make payments on behalf of a business. For example, a sales team member may need to buy dinner for a client with their company card. Paying with a company card means the employee doesn’t have to pay with a personal card, submit an expense report, and wait for reimbursement. And if the card is linked to an expense management software, managers have visibility over spending transactions. Some expense management solution providers, like Payhawk, also feature built-in, customizable workflows so businesses can control their spending and set limits and approvals at the individual, team, or project level.

Companies of a certain size often work with a spend management solution like Payhawk to manage their credit cards. We offer an all-in-one expense management experience for businesses to save countless hours in administrative work and data entry,, while offering real-time visibility and control over spending transactions. Most growing businesses and enterprises do not manage their own company cards. Instead, they work with experts like Payhawk to automate manual financial processes, control spend, integrate their payment and accounting data, offer a streamlined way to capture receipts and invoices, and provide comprehensive controls and governance.

Your business can use company cards for any legitimate business activities it needs.(Refer to terms and conditions of the card carrier for more information). Your card users/ employees simply need to make a payment with the company card, take a picture or download a receipt, upload it to the app, add the relevant information, and the process is complete. The expense then shows in real-time so the finance team can the transaction, keep track of budgeting, and create realistic forecasts. The supporting software for the virtual and physical company cards also allows the finance team to set limits and add approval workflows according to company policy. This allows the business to implement smart spend control and governance.

No. Typically, company cards are not for personal expenses. This is because business expenses are only tax deductible if they are “ordinary and necessary” to the function of the business. Allowing company cards for personal expenses can add unnecessary work for the finance team to separate personal and business transactions when preparing financial documents such as tax filings. However, companies also have the flexibility to define personal vs. work expenses within its business expense policy. It may be that some companies allow for travel to the office to be expensed. Others may expect the employee to pay for travel themselves and reflect this in their salary and benefits. The business should keep in mind the tax implications of their policies at all times. At Payhawk, we have built-in, customizable approval workflows and spend limits. So businesses can easily define what they want to be accepted while empowering employees to spend freely within the controlled framework.