Business expenses will vary by company, with virtually every firm having some form of finances that will need to be managed.

While larger firms will tend to have larger expenses, managing them remains a necessity to ensure that business costs do not spiral out of control.

When staff travel or purchase goods on behalf of a company they will expect to get reimbursed, but this requires plenty of consideration.

What are the options?

One solution is for workers to present receipts relating to purchased goods and services, but this can be easier said than done.

This also results in a mountain of paperwork, assuming that the receipts were not accidentally thrown away before people remembered the need to claim.

Alternatively, staff could be allowed to use a company credit card although tracking exactly what each transaction is could be difficult, leaving this option open to exploitation.

A petty cash tin could cover smaller outlays, while asking employees to submit all claims for expenses to the end of the month could cause plenty of mistakes to be made.

One alternative is to give the employees concerned a prepaid business card that can then be topped up by the company to cover certain expenses.

As a result it would be very difficult for overpayments to occur and the risk of fraud would be reduced as the cards are not tied directly to other bank accounts.

Less admin

Without the need to go through many different receipts for individual claims, a great deal of time can be saved on administration.

Business managers can see all expenditures on the cards and can then flag up issues with the staff concerned if he feels the cards are being mistreated.

All spending is trackable either via online services or via text updates, so exploitation of this type of prepaid card would be difficult.

Plenty of control

Because of this type of card management, it’s also possible for a boss to have a certain degree of control over spending.

This provides them with the peace of mind that money is not being leaked from the company while the amount of time needed to look over accounts should be significantly reduced.

The time saved every month can then be used for other things that may be more beneficial; to the company in the long-term.

Keeping costs down

Using the right cards should reduce costs, both in terms of card charges and in labour, making it a far cheaper option than more traditional methods.

It is important to consider the fact that some cards will carry costs though, although these should be more than offset by the savings associated with changing management methods.

Essentially, switching to a prepaid card option provides an opportunity to save both time and money – two factors which play a massive role in the potential success of any business.