How Cards can Give you More Control over Employee Spending
- Last updated:
- Blog
Every finance expert knows that keeping a close eye on employee expenses is crucial for maintaining a healthy cash flow. After all, it means that you are ensuring your company remains on top of its financial responsibilities. Yet, traditional reimbursement methods often leave finance teams playing catch-up with delayed tracking and tedious manual processes. This is where corporate cards come into play. If managed properly, they give businesses the tools to take immediate control over employee spending. From optimised spend visibility to automated compliance, these cards provide a streamlined solution to business expense management, making it easier for companies to maintain financial control while reducing the administrative burden on their finance team members.
The limitations of traditional reimbursement methods
Whether you work for a small business or a large organisation: When it comes to reimbursements there are several pain points for all team members. Processing an expense report weeks after a business trip or project is cumbersome when done the traditional way. Employees typically pay for business expenses out of pocket and submit their claims later, which often creates several issues for the finance team.
One of the most significant limitations is the delay in tracking expenses. Employees may wait until the end of the month (or sometimes even longer) to submit their receipts, leaving finance teams in the dark about how much is being spent. This lack of real-time visibility makes it challenging to monitor company spending as it happens, possibly even leading to potential cash flow problems and unexpected costs that might throw off the whole budget.
Another obvious downside that cannot be denied is the sheer administrative burden of traditional reimbursement processes. Finance teams must manually review and process expense claims, deal with piles of receipts, track down missing information, and double-check data entries in accounting software. This consumes valuable time and opens the door to human error, such as incorrect expense categorisation or duplicate claims.
In addition to being time-consuming, traditional reimbursement methods also reduce financial control. With no way to set immediate spending limits, finance teams can only review transactions after they have occurred, leaving them unable to prevent overspending or non-compliant purchases as they happen.
Finally, monitoring vendor-specific spending can be a hassle with traditional methods. For instance, if your company prefers specific travel vendors, it can be challenging to enforce those preferences when employees use their personal cards. This further reduces control over business spending, as finance teams are often unaware of vendor-specific purchases until after the fact.
Blog article
Why Smart Corporate Cards Are a Must for Businesses
Payment methods have been undergoing a massive modernization phase, and the traditional corporate credit card is no exception. But the real question is, are these cards truly smart or just another gimmick?
Francesca Burkhardt,
Product Marketing
How corporate cards offer enhanced control
Company debit or credit cards present a robust solution to these limitations, offering businesses greater control, real-time monitoring, and customisable spend limits that directly address the pain points of traditional reimbursement processes.
Real-time tracking and monitoring:
One of the standout benefits of business expense cards is the ability to track and monitor transactions in real time. Instead of waiting for employees to submit their expense reports, finance teams can see purchases from cardholders as they happen, allowing for immediate oversight and proactive management of company funds. This means no more surprises at the end of the month—your finance team has a continuous, up-to-date picture of company card spending, which is crucial for managing cash flow and staying within budget.
Customisable spending limits:
Moreover, company credit cards come with customisable spending limits, enabling finance managers to set specific individual employee or department thresholds. For instance, you can allocate higher limits for senior management or travel-related expenses while maintaining tighter controls for other employees. This customisation ensures that every expenditure aligns with your company’s financial objectives and policies.
Vendor-specific controls:
Beyond general spending limits, employee cards also offer vendor-specific controls, allowing companies to approve or restrict transactions with certain suppliers. Whether it’s preferred office supply vendors or specific airlines for business travel, these controls ensure that employees spend company funds in line with pre-approved guidelines. This level of financial control safeguards against unauthorised spending, giving businesses peace of mind that their money is being spent wisely.
The benefits of automated expense tracking with corporate cards
While real-time visibility and spending controls are game-changers, the benefits of corporate credit cards (or debit cards) don’t stop there. Another key advantage is the automated expense tracking that corporate cards enable, which streamlines the expense management process and alleviates the administrative burden that typically falls on finance teams.
Streamlined reconciliation
One of the most significant benefits of automated tracking is streamlined reconciliation. When employees use corporate cards, their transactions are automatically logged, categorised, and matched with the correct expense category, saving time and reducing errors. Finance teams no longer need to chase down missing receipts or manually enter data into accounting software—everything is handled digitally, resulting in a smoother, faster reconciliation process.
Instant approvals
Additionally, corporate cards can support instant approvals for routine expenses. For example, if an employee’s spending is within the approved limit or aligns with pre-set vendor restrictions, their transactions can be automatically approved without manual intervention. This speeds up the approval process and reduces workflow bottlenecks, allowing employees to focus on their work rather than waiting for approvals.
Improved compliance
Another crucial aspect is improved compliance. With corporate cards, every transaction is linked to specific rules or policies, ensuring employee spending consistently aligns with company guidelines. This built-in compliance feature reduces the likelihood of fraudulent claims or overspending, helping companies maintain tighter control over their expenses.
Blog article
Simplifying Expense Management: How Corporate Cards Benefit Businesses of All Sizes
Although most corporate card programs offer cash back on transactions, these savings aren’t the main driver for companies who choose to equip their employees with business credit cards or debit cards.
Francesca Burkhardt,
Product Marketing
Additional features for enhanced employee spend control
In addition to real-time tracking and automation, corporate cards often come with advanced features that offer even greater control over employee spending.
Single-use or virtual cards can be generated for one-time purchases, which makes them ideal for specific, high-risk transactions such as online subscriptions or travel bookings. Once the transaction is complete, the card is no longer active, providing an extra layer of security and control over spending. They work similar to prepaid cards.
Role-based access and approvals allow companies to customise spending limits and access permissions based on an employee’s role. For example, team leads or department heads might be able to approve transactions within their teams, while more senior executives handle higher-value expenditures. This hierarchical approach ensures that spending authority matches the employee’s role within the organisation, providing additional oversight.
Automated alerts and notifications can notify finance teams of unusual or out-of-policy transactions in real-time. This proactive approach to spend management helps businesses catch non-compliant purchases early, allowing them to address potential issues before they escalate.
Leveraging technology to maximise spend control with Yokoy Pay
While corporate cards offer a solid foundation for spend control, combining them with technology platforms like Yokoy Pay can further enhance the efficiency and accuracy of business expense management.
AI-powered spend monitoring and reporting
Yokoy Pay leverages AI-powered spend monitoring and reporting, allowing businesses to automatically analyse spending patterns, detect anomalies, and flag non-compliant transactions. This advanced oversight level helps companies avoid potential issues, enabling them to fine-tune their expense policies based on real-time data.
Real-time data analytics and alerts
In addition to AI-driven insights, Yokoy provides real-time data analytics and alerts, giving finance teams the often much-needed tools to make informed decisions quickly. Whether it’s adjusting spending limits, approving or denying expenses, or investigating suspicious transactions, Yokoy empowers businesses to maintain tight control over company funds.
Customisable spend limits and vendor restrictions
Another valuable feature is Yokoy’s ability to set customisable spend limits and vendor restrictions for better control. This ensures that employee spending remains aligned with company policies. Finance teams can enforce these limits without manual intervention, reducing the risk of non-compliant purchases and keeping expenditures within approved guidelines.
Automated compliance enforcement
For businesses focused on compliance, automated compliance enforcement is another key benefit. With Yokoy Pay, all transactions are automatically checked against company policies and regulatory requirements, ensuring that employee spending is always compliant. This reduces the burden on finance teams and helps companies avoid costly compliance issues down the road.
Customisable workflows
Finally, Yokoy’s customisable workflows allow businesses to create tailored approval processes that fit their unique needs. Whether you require multi-level approvals for high-value purchases or streamlined approvals for everyday expenses, Yokoy’s platform provides the flexibility to adapt to any organisation’s structure.
Next steps
Corporate cards and platforms like Yokoy Pay are revolutionising how businesses manage their expenses. With real-time tracking, automated compliance, and customisable spending controls, these tools offer a powerful solution for maintaining financial oversight while reducing the administrative burden on finance teams. Companies like yours can gain greater control over their spending, improve compliance, and optimise their cash flow management by using the advanced features of business credit cards and expense management software.
Ready to enhance your company’s control over employee spending? Book a demo with Yokoy today and experience firsthand how these solutions can transform your approach to expense management.
In this article
See intelligent spend management in action
Related content
If you enjoyed this article, you might find the resources below useful.
