What is a company expense card?

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.

How do companies manage business cards?

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.

What can we use business cards for?

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.

Users ask: Can I use my corporate card for personal expenses?

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.

What is covered by the insurance?

Payhawk's Visa cards issued within the European Economic Area now include complimentary travel insurance. Incidents covered during business trips include trip cancellation, Medical expenses abroad, Repatriation, Baggage delay/loss/damage/theft, Personal liability abroad, and more. Read more on coverage and limits [here](https://verzekeringskaarten.nl/aig/travel-insurance-payhawk).

The most efficient credit cards for business

Physical and virtual Visa credit cards for business, backed by powerful financial software, for any kind of online or on-the-go spend worldwide.

Schedule a demo Schedule a demo View pricing View pricing

NEW

Payhawk Green - automatically track carbon emissions on all card spend and accelerate ESG reporting

Leveraging the GHG protocol and platform customisation, Payhawk Green enables you to better understand the environmental impact of your operations and supply chain.

Learn more

Straightforward company card management

Easy-to-use workflows, fund requests, spend limits, budgets, and departmental team cards all in one place.

Up to $250,000

Qualify for credit limits up to $250,000 based on assessment.

Up to 38 days

Up to 38 days interest-free on card purchases. Late payment fees apply.

No personal guarantee

Keep business and personal spending separate.

Using our corporate visa cards and expense categories, managing subscriptions is easy.

Stay on top of business spend

Empower managers to stay on top of business spend as it happens, with automatic, real-time sync. Team leads can stay abreast of all payments, manage spend limits, and view outstanding expenses, all in the same streamlined tool.

Stay on top of business spend

Set impactful spend controls

Customize your employee spend with built-in limits, policies, and rules which can be applied to both individual or team cards. Update spend controls in real-time, and freeze or issue cards in seconds.

Set impactful spend controls

Marketing team reimbursements using Payhawk visa cards - screenshot from the application

Reflect your company structures

Control monthly recurring spend transactions and ATM withdrawal limits in real-time. Set approval flows and manage fund requests on the fly, from your desktop or mobile device.

Reflect your company structures

Control monthly recurring spend transactions and ATM withdrawal limits in real-time. Set approval flows and manage fund requests on the fly, from your desktop or mobile device.

Simplify bulk card management

Remove the burden of individual card control with simplified account automation that allows you to manage company cards in bulk. Set rules and apply them to entire departments with just one click.

Using our corporate cards, reimbursing employee expenses and managing subscriptions has never been easier

Simplify bulk card management

Remove the burden of individual card control with simplified account automation that allows you to manage company cards in bulk. Set rules and apply them to entire departments with just one click.

Reduce the paperwork and save time with one-click expense approval workflows.

Support flexible spending

Equip your team to deal with out-of-policy, unforeseen, or emergency payments via instant fund requests.

Support flexible spending

Equip your team to deal with out-of-policy, unforeseen, or emergency payments via instant fund requests.

See what our cards can do

Streamlined team spend

Efficient corporate spend and expense management with multiple cards for departments, teams and projects.

Share budgets easily

Create team cards with shared budgets for team, department, or project-related spending.

Control team or project spend

Give financial managers real-time control over their team spend, budgets and subscriptions including subscription management software.

Empower team members

Support team members to spend as required with company cards linked to their team budget.

Control global spend

Manage worldwide company spend with globally-accepted corporate Visa debit and credit cards powered by in-built spend rules, budgets, and approval flows.

Avoid currency fees

Spend with 0% FX fees in six currencies, and benefit from a market-leading 1.99% exchange markup on all other currencies.

Scale card spend globally

Equip your employees to pay, no matter where they are, with a Payhawk Visa card and consistent in-built spend rules and approval flows across your entire organisation.

Insure business trips for free

Get free insurance for all your cardholders with every Payhawk Visa card issued within the European Economic Area .

Avoid currency fees

Spend with 0% FX fees in six currencies, and benefit from a market-leading 1.99% exchange markup on all other currencies.

Scale card spend globally

Equip your employees to pay, no matter where they are, with a Payhawk Visa card and consistent in-built spend rules and approval flows across your entire organisation.

Insure business trips for free

Get free insurance for all your cardholders with every Payhawk Visa card issued within the European Economic Area .

Easy expense reporting

Say goodbye to piles of paper receipts with all-in-one software for corporate expense management and reporting.

Minimize the manual busywork with our easy receipt tracking process. Employees simply upload or snap a shot of receipts on a mobile device and Payhawk’s powerful OCR software will parse the data in 60+ languages and automatically fill in expense reports.