Mastering Global Employee Expenses with Virtual Multi-Currency Cards

As a business expands globally, tracking employee expenses across different currencies and bank accounts becomes an increasingly daunting task for CFOs. The traditional practice of companies was to reimburse employees for out-of-pocket expenses or to open multiple bank accounts and issue each employee a physical card. It is important to note that this approach results in scalability issues and cost issues associated with maintaining multiple banking relationships.

Furthermore, when reconciling employee expenses manually, mistakes are inevitable, which can result in further difficulties during audits. Finding and correcting missing expenses and mistakes is a time-consuming endeavor that takes away from important strategic pursuits. Is there a solution that provides visibility into expenses, ease of reporting and reconciliation, and flexibility for employees around the world? In this article we discuss how virtual cards can revolutionise global expense management for CFOs.

Managing employee expenses is complex for businesses with cross-border operations and global workforces. The go-to method of tracking expenses in Excel and relying on reimbursement forms doesn’t work anymore - it causes inefficiencies, delays and incomplete reporting. Approximately 85% of employees admitted to lying on expense reports. For the financial team, reporting incorrect amounts or missing expenses further complicates operations. A virtual multi-currency card provides a solution to all those challenges by allowing CFOs to issue cards tailored to specific countries, entities, departments, or projects, simplifying reconciliation, control, and reporting accuracy.

Furthermore, virtual cards provide an additional layer of protection against misuse and fraud. Whenever a card is suspected of being misplaced or fraudulently used, the online platform enables instant deletion and reissuance, ensuring uninterrupted operations. Finally, CFOs can set strategic limits, preventing overspending and addressing common issues like forgetting to cancel subscriptions and trials on time. The use of virtual cards can almost completely eliminate out-of-pocket expenses and reimbursement forms, resulting in a significant improvement in efficiency and transparency.

The use of virtual cards in business travel is particularly useful - CFOs can issue prepaid cards that are specific to a trip, top up the cards remotely, and reconcile all the expenditures for the trip at the end. Besides improving control of travel-related expenses, this also ensures a hassle-free experience for employees on the move.

The use of virtual cards presents not only an operationally efficient way to manage expenses, but also a cost-effective one. In comparison with traditional banking, issuing multiple cards without additional contracts and fees saves both time and money. Instead of using different banking platforms, all employee cards can be managed from one location, and new cards can be blocked and created remotely. It also allows companies to meet the needs of employees in different regions and minimize foreign exchange exposure by issuing virtual cards in any currency. Virtual cards offer additional financial incentives like 0% transaction costs and cashback features, which help improve profitability by virtually turning costs into profits.

With virtual cards, CFOs can manage expenses and employees can upload receipts from any device with internet access. When combined with timely reminders, this simple receipt uploading system catches employees at the point of expense, reducing the administrative burden of chasing missing invoices. Furthermore, the seamless integration of virtual cards with accounting software streamlines receipt management and reconciliation. All those features eliminate most of the manual work in invoice reconciliation and allow CFOs to divert their attention to more strategic endavours such as reposting and analysis.

Every virtual card transaction provides significant data for data analytics, enabling real-time insight into spending. Paying with a virtual card makes it easier to classify expenses associated with a specific trip or project, facilitates ROI reporting, and helps spot unnecessary spending and save costs where possible. The CFO can attach tags to cards with some virtual card providers, simplifying report generation around particular projects or departments. These insights into spending in real-time allow finance teams to make more informed decisions and forecasts, giving the business a better chance of growth.

Fyorin streamlines cross-border financial operations for global companies, including employee expense management. Our virtual card solution offers unparalleled flexibility, control, and added financial benefits for your global workforce and financial teams. Key features include:
Are you ready to say goodbye to expense reports and reimbursement forms? Get your card today - send an email to [email protected]