Managing and tracking expenditures isn’t easy. Typically, it involves employees spending their own funds, keeping hold of receipts, filling in forms, and waiting weeks to receive the funds back. Thankfully, though, modern technology has a fantastic solution: employee business expense cards. Platforms like that of Wallester Business allow you to manage business spending so that all employees have quick access to funds while remaining within specific spending limits. These can be traditional physical cards or a more modern virtual card. Let’s explore what this means in more detail.
Business Expense Cards – What Are They Exactly?
Successful business finance management depends on how efficiently you track your expenditures and running costs—and business expense cards make this even easier than ever before. Whether your expenses are online or in person, business expense cards give you access to funds exactly when they’re needed. But what, exactly, are they?
Business expense cards are a type of corporate card. They’re either linked to the company account, which is debited immediately upon a transaction, or they’re loaded with funds in advance. A prepaid card will have specific rules as to how the money is spent while a debit card is less restricted.
These have the benefits of saving time for those in charge of finances while also improving things for staff as they won’t be expected to use their own funds before claiming expenses back.
How does it work?
Essentially, the person in charge will set the limits on each card. This will help reduce fraudulent transactions and improve security. The cards may allow a certain amount of money to be spent on travel costs or marketing, for example.
Let’s say you’ve got an employee who is required to do a lot of traveling throughout the month. The account manager can issue them with a customized business expense card with an allotted amount they are able to spend on travel. The card will not be able to be used once the allotted amount is reached. This means that employees can’t overspend or use it for other purposes.
What’s more, because the money has already been allocated from the budget, business owners know how much is being spent in advance. They’ll also get immediate notifications about transactions as well as detailed financial reports. This means there will be fewer unknown transactions. Whenever the card is used, you’ll be notified. It’s so much easier and quicker than waiting for paper receipts and expense forms so saves time and improves efficiency.
Physical or virtual cards
With so many transactions done online or as contactless payments, you might not even need a physical card at all. Expense cards can be issued virtually too, which means you can start using them straight away. These cards can be used for online marketing ad payments (think social network ads like Facebook or Google Ads). The cards can also have an IBAN (international bank account number attached) so you can make and receive international payments. All this can be done easily—and kept under control by key stakeholders.
What other benefits are there?
With employee expense cards, you have a wealth of benefits especially when it comes to expense management. Here are some ways these can help:
- All spending is traceable. You can confirm purchase requests in real time, so you know what they’re spending and where.
- It makes it much easier to buy ads online with instant virtual card creations.
- Invoices can be instantly uploaded to existing accounting software.
- It’s easier to manage budgets through account software integration.
- Corporate expenses are detailed in reports so it’s easier to see which employees are spending the most and where they’re spending it.
- You can have an unlimited number of physical cards and they’re quickly processed through an innovative API (application programming interface).
Let’s look at some of these in more detail:
Spending control
Both virtual and physical employee expense cards allow employees to pay for things quickly and independently for business expenses. At the same time, managers can set limits and track spending in real time.
Finance tool integrations
Employee expense cards can be managed and integrated with existing finance tools, so you don’t need to change everything about your financial systems. They work with software like Xero, Kissflow, Oracle, and Quickbooks, for example.
Accountability
Not only do expense cards have the benefit of staff not having to spend their own money and then go through the lengthy process of claiming it back, with an employee expense card, gives employees ownership, responsibility, and accountability to manage a spending budget. Managers benefit from better tracking and control too.
Final thoughts
Employee expense cards are a relatively easy thing to include in your business—especially given their seamless integration into existing systems. Both employees and managers prefer them so it’s a win-win.
Related Readings
- How to apply for a Virtual Card
- Verify I9 for remote employees
- Best HR software for small businesses
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