How Do Business Credit Cards Make Record-Keeping Easier?

Whether you use the wrong type of card or use it too often, mismanaging your business credit card can harm your company’s bottom line. However, using a card for dedicated business expenditures can simplify record-keeping with careful management, saving you time and money. 

Business credit card issuers offer unique features like employee card tracking and expanded reporting options not available with standard consumer cards. Additionally, a business card can boost efficiency by keeping your business and personal finances separated.

Record-Keeping Advantages Using Employee Credit Cards 

Many small businesses have an office manager or another employee responsible for making purchases or paying small bills for the company. To avoid the time-consuming or inconvenient task of approving every payment transaction, provide employee-designated cards in their names. 

When linked to your account, employee cards are a straightforward way to track employee spending. When your monthly billing statement shows up, any transactions will be itemized and separated based on the employee who made the purchase. 

Avoid Receipt Collecting and Staff Reimbursements

If your company’s business involves a lot of travel or dining with clients, employee cards save you from the hassle of collecting receipts and reimbursing your staff for their out-of-pocket costs. 

Plus, employee purchases will help accelerate cash back and points rewards to offset travel expenses. 

Set Spending Limits 

Employee credit cards usually come with the capacity to monitor and limit monthly spending on every card. 

You can see where each employee is using their card and how much they are spending. This allows you to make adjustments as needed and keep spending under control. 

A Range of Organizational and Customizable Reports

Credit card issuers typically send monthly statements to cardholders. But when you have a business credit card, you can also expect detailed quarterly and annual reports. 

These financial statements show your spending organized into categories. Knowing what you spent last year on travel, office supplies, and dining out will simplify IRS deduction calculations at tax time. No more digging through file cabinets or shoeboxes to find your crumpled receipts!

With some business credit cards, you may also be allowed to request customized reports whenever you need them. If your business needs a transaction list showing a specific spending category, merchant, or time, you can type in the details and generate a report with these parameters. 

Separate Your Business and Personal Finances

Nothing complicates business record-keeping more than mixing non-business transactions with business transactions. When you make company and personal charges on a single credit card, you will need to take time to unravel your statements. This entails analyzing them line by line to differentiate business-related expenses from personal ones. 

Your time could be better spent focusing on company issues, and due to human error, you may end up with inaccurate business records.

Using a business credit card streamlines this process considerably. When your monthly credit card statements arrive, you’ll know instantly that every listed transaction was a business-related expense.

Other Time-Saving Features

If you are like most entrepreneurs and small business owners, you have enough on your plate to maintain your company’s daily operations. Anything to eliminate repetitive and tedious record-keeping tasks is welcome.

In addition to the convenience and time savings of having you’re your personal and company credit cards separated, a business card can make your record-keeping easier through:

Automatic Payments

Use your credit card number to establish recurring payments for predictable monthly expenses like utilities and rent. Not only will you avoid a manual payment initiation each month, but creditors sometimes offer a discount in exchange for setting up automatic payments.

You can also pay your monthly credit card bills by granting the credit card issuer permission to automatically draw funds from your checking account on or before the due date. Automatic debit payments save you time and guarantee that you will never incur a late fee.

Speedy Checkbook Reconciliation

Use your credit card for everyday company purchases rather than using a check or making a debit card transaction. When you do this, you’ll have only a single credit card payment at the month’s end.

This will allow you to balance your business account in a fraction of the time.