Business
Company card: Choosing wisely could save UK SMEs billions
Business credit cards are a huge industry. But managing, controlling, and tracking the expenses they generate, costs UK SME’s a massive £8.72 billion every single year. This shocking statistic was uncovered by Soldo Business, in an independent survey of 1,200 companies, conducted by pollsters, YouGov. The good news is that choosing the right company card can literally save billions.
The average company credit card may be adequate when it comes to facilitating spending by senior, permanent employees. But it still lacks the functionalities needed to save time (and therefore money) currently wasted on tracking expenses, and reporting on them. Furthermore, a corporate credit card is not suitable for junior, or temporary, employees, who haven’t earned enough trust, or seniority, to be granted access to the company’s credit line.
Both large companies and startups struggle with tracking credit cards for business
Unsurprisingly, Soldo’s survey reveals that the larger a company, the more challenging cash flow management becomes. However, it’s the startups that struggle the most with day to day cash flow management – with 15 per cent of them find managing outgoings particularly difficult.
SMEs and startups typically don’t have the infrastructure to manage expenses in the most efficient manner, with staff often multi-tasking and covering several responsibilities in a fast-growing environment. In this context, the operational expenditure becomes a particular drain on the business’ overall energy and funds.
Business credit cards differ mainly in the specific rates they offer (and of course the designs themselves), but they offer little when it comes to reducing the drain on staff time and energy.
The right company card has to do more than spend…
When you set out to compare business credit cards, try to look beyond the rates (and any perks) they might offer. Access to airport lounges anywhere in the world is all very well, but it won’t do anything to reduce the time your accounts department wastes reconciling expenses at the end of the cycle. And the average corporate credit card offers very little (if anything) in the way of controls or tracking.
Even the cheapest company credit card will still leave you with a tedious and costly reconciliation process.
What if there was a company card that could do more?
Well, now there is:
Soldo Business simplifies the entire business expense cycle – with Mastercard® business cards, intuitive admin, an app, and effortless reporting.
It’s is a new milestone in the evolution of business expenses.
Soldo has harnessed the smartest financial and payments technology to build a product that puts an end to tedious expense reports and reconciliation processes, once and for all.
What’s different about Soldo Business?
Moving far beyond the average company card, Soldo Business has three key ingredients:
- Mastercard cards (plastic and virtual)
- An intuitive admin dashboard
- An app for employees
Soldo Business cards – Mastercard plastic and virtual
Soldo Business cards can be used anywhere you see the Mastercard logo, giving you and your employees access to over 30 million outlets worldwide, and 1.5 million cash machines.
The unique option of having a virtual Soldo Business card means that employees who only need to make purchases online won’t run the risk of losing a valuable piece of plastic.
How the Soldo Business company card gives you full control
Soldo Business’ intuitive admin dashboard means that you retain control over everyone’s spending. You can move money around the company instantly, free of charge – allocating unused funds immediately to where they’re needed, catering perfectly to last minute emergencies.
You can set bespoke rules, limits and budgets for each user, suiting everyone’s needs and trust levels to perfection. For the first time, you have a company card that’s even suitable for junior or temporary employees.
If anyone overspends, or their card is lost or stolen, you can instantly lock their card in the dashboard with a single click. You’ve never been safer from fraud.
And, at the end of the expense cycle, you won’t have to waste precious human resources compiling expense reports. Just click to export all the vital data in a format that integrates seamlessly with all the major accounts management software.
Employees become effortless contributors to the company’s accounting process
Thanks to innovative features such as tagging and receipt attachment, staff and teams are no longer mere users of company funds, but also (effortlessly) become contributors to the company’s accounting process.
If an employee uses their Soldo Business card to take a potential client out to lunch, all they need to do is tag the expense with the project or client name, snap a photo of the receipt and upload it to the transaction.
The transparency and trackability of Soldo Business allays niggling doubts, encourages honesty and – above all – makes everything easy to reconcile at the end of the month.
Stay in the black with Soldo Business cards
The great thing about adopting Soldo Business as your company card is that employees can only spend money you’ve put in their virtual wallet – right here, right now.
You don’t have to worry about employees running up huge company credit card bills, and you’ll remain in constant control.
Crucially, Soldo Business doesn’t bring the same risks as a business debit card. It’s seldom wise to give anyone but the most senior employees access to your small business accounts; this risk is why most companies choose credit as the (relatively) safer option.
Soldo Business, on the other hand, is like a business debit card, but with secure and flexible limits that keep everything on track. Both you (via the dashboard) and your employees (via the app) can view balances in real time, all the time. You can even opt for instant notifications every time someone spends.
Using Soldo Business as a purchasing card
As well as allocating Soldo Business cards to employees and teams, you can also configure cost centres as users, creating the Soldo Business version of a purchasing card.
Using cost centres in Soldo Business allows to manage frequent purchases quickly, easily and securely. You’ll be able to streamline and ringfence disparate departmental spends, driving new efficiency and cost-saving in the reconciliation process.
For example, your office team may need two Soldo Business cards: one for purchasing refreshments, and another for purchasing stationery. Using Soldo Business to create two separate purchasing cards makes these different expenses easier to track and analyse.
