How do Business Card Purchases work?
If your organisation has business credit or debit cards registered in the name of the organisation, then when purchases are made, these should be entered using the 'Business Card Purchase' option. This can be found within the purchases module in ExpensePlus.
You can wait until monthly credit and debit card statements have been uploaded before entering business card purchases. However, we recommend that cardholders enter purchases at or just after each purchase is made.
Entering a card purchase couldn't be simpler - there are just 4 fields for the user to complete, and if they enter the purchase on a phone or tablet, they can simply click to take a photo as part of the process (or upload or email the receipt).
Entering a business card purchase at or within a few days of purchase has many benefits:
- Saves the cardholder time - entering upfront saves cardholders from having to think back 4 to 5 weeks to remember what the purchase was, and the purchase details.
- Reduces the number of lost receipts - it's far less likely a cardholder will lose or not be able to find a receipt if they record purchases as they go.
- Enables budget holders to view accurate expenditure - entering purchases upfront enables budget holders to better manage expenditure.
- Saves the finance team time - reconciling statements where business card purchases have been entered takes just 2 to 3 seconds per transaction.
Unlike other purchase types, where users have an incentive to enter purchases (because otherwise payments won't be made), cardholders have far less incentive to enter purchases because the money has already been spent.
To enable good governance and provide clarity for cardholders, many churches and charities have a business cardholder policy in place that cardholders are required to read, sign and agree to before they are issued a debit/credit card. You can find out more about purchasing policies for churches and download a free template that can be adapted in this blog article.
How to set up debit/credit cards within ExpensePlus
There is no need to add individual cards within ExpensePlus, however for:
- Credit Cards - you will need to set up a credit card account within Bank, Card and Petty Cash Accounts settings, by clicking the 'add new' option at the top of the screen, and ensuring the card option is set to Credit Card.
- Debit Cards - if transactions appear within your regular bank account statement, within the Bank, Card and Petty Cash Accounts settings screen, simply click on the bank account if this has already been set up and ensure the card option for this account is set to 'debit card'. If it's a separate account, then you will need to add a new account.
- Prepaid Cards - typically you will need to set up an account per card as well as one central prepayment card account. Money is then transferred into the central account from your regular bank account, before being loaded onto individual cards.
Entering Business Card Purchases
Ideally, when a user makes a payment using their Business Card, they will enter the transaction into ExpensePlus themselves using the 'Business Card' payment type on the Purchases screen.
Just like expenses and other purchases, these require a receipt and approval, even though the approval will be retrospective to the purchase.
If you are set up with multiple Bank accounts that accept Business Card Purchases (Bank Accounts with Debit Card or Credit Card Accounts), the purchase screen will allow you to select the Business Card account from the drop-down list (typically this option is hidden).
What happens when business card purchases are entered?
How to deal with Business Card Purchases that cardholders haven't entered
For most organisations that have business cards, it's not uncommon to find a small number of business card transactions on your bank statement that haven't been entered by cardholders. Where this happens, read and follow the advice in this help guide article.
It covers the most efficient way to deal with the transactions, without the need for you to contact cardholders or to have to wait for cardholders to enter these purchases.