What is a corporate card and how do they work?

Sufficient research must first be conducted before a business applies for a corporate card. This ensures that the card program chosen has features that are in line with the company’s needs and requirements. There are some important elements that a business must pay close attention to when researching what is a corporate card. 

It’s recommended to look at a card provider’s website to see an information summary of its card programs. Some providers may have more than one program or plan for a corporate card, meaning that businesses must determine which is best suited for them.

Consider aspects such as the annual fee, the number of cards that can be issued, the card management system, the liability, and the benefits offered by the provider. Once a card program has been chosen, make sure to collect all the necessary documents for the application process. When possible, choose a provider that allows online applications.

In most cases, the company is responsible for issuing corporate cards to its employees. Many modern card providers offer a feature on their dashboard that allows businesses to easily issue and assign cards. 

With a card dashboard, businesses may even be able to order and issue cards in bulk. Once a card has been issued to the correct cardholder, it must be activated and assigned a PIN before using it.

Using corporate cards is a fairly straightforward process, but only if employees know what is a corporate card. Those who are unfamiliar with its functions may struggle to incorporate the card into everyday business operations. 

Depending on the type of corporate card, there may be some conditions that must be met before a card can be used. For example, a prepaid card will require the company to first load it with funds.

Payments made with corporate cards are automatically recorded. This makes it easy to view past business expenses, as all the finance team has to do is access the cards’ transaction history using a card management system.

Many card providers also offer additional expense tracking and reporting features to streamline the process. Employees will be redirected to a reporting format with custom fields, which they can fill out and attach a receipt photo for better tracking.

The primary purpose of knowing what is a corporate card is to discover how using one can make business payments easier. Once cards have been issued and activated, they can be tapped or swiped in-store and also used to make online purchases.

When possible, it’s good practice to integrate the business’ corporate card dashboard with the accounting software being used to automatically reconcile card transactions. This will allow businesses to save time on the account reconciliation process.

Plenty of corporate card providers offer rewards, promotions, and other forms of incentives to boost and retain card usage. When applicable, businesses can earn points whenever a cardholder uses their card, or get discounts at select merchants. 

These rewards and incentives are gained naturally as employees make everyday business expenses. For points-based reward programs, businesses can accumulate more points the more they use their corporate cards. These points can later be used to make discounted or even free purchases. 

Without proper card policies and strict controls, it can be difficult to ensure that employees are not overspending on their corporate cards. Card misuse is also a major risk, but sometimes it does not have to be intentional for overspending or misuse to occur. 

Make sure to dissuade this by setting card limits and educating employees on what and how much they are allowed to spend on their cards.

Corporate cards are only as effective as their policy compliance rates. While they can empower employees and enable better expense management, there is a risk in maintaining policy compliance across the organization. 

Equipping employees with corporate cards requires business owners and executives to trust the cardholders. Foster a culture of compliance and introduce accountability within the organization to avoid non-compliance. Regularly monitoring expenses will help with policy compliance.

Compromised cards may lead to large amounts of unauthorized spending due to fraudulent usage. Criminals can steal a card’s data through techniques like hacking, skimming, and phishing, or take a physical card and use it to make purchases without the cardholder’s knowledge.

Employees must take good care of cards issued to them, but it is also a good idea for businesses to implement safety measures such as instant card freezing or blocking to minimize the risks.

When introducing corporate cards to the team, businesses have to make sure that employees get the appropriate training and know how to use their corporate cards responsibly. Most businesses will already know that hosting introductory training sessions is a must, but there is more to the process. 

Training costs resources and time, which must be used efficiently. It is also important that employees come out of training sessions knowing what the company policies look like.

Knowing what is a corporate card is only one piece of the puzzle. While it is a great tool for managing expenses, it can be used in tandem with other tools, such as a vendor management system. 

Without a proper vendor management process, it can be confusing to determine which payment is due when and how to pay each vendor. Corporate card solutions that offer unlimited virtual cards can aid with this by assigning a card to each vendor.

The last thing the finance team wants is to have to chase employees for details on their card transactions. However, it’s no secret that manual expense reports require a lot of work. Expense reports as soon as the transaction has been made.

Businesses want to make the expense reporting process as painless as possible to encourage employees to complete them. It’s also a good idea to get tools to help with expense reconciliation.

It makes sense that the bigger a business is, the stronger the need for a corporate card is as well. This is because bigger businesses will have more expenses to make and manage every month. Doing so manually and relying on expense reimbursements becomes quickly tedious.

As the name suggests, most corporate cards are also intended for larger corporations. Typically, those who are eligible and can take advantage of these cards are incorporated companies.

Companies that have a lot of expense transactions, regardless of how big or small their amounts are, will benefit more from corporate cards. With corporate cards, businesses will not have to worry about manually logging every transaction that occurs. 

Making transactions in multiple categories is also easier through corporate cards, as they are designed to centralize business expenses. Some categories, like travel and entertainment expenses, also will be much smoother when they don’t need to be reimbursed. 

Transactions such as business travel expenses are inconvenient to repeatedly reimburse. It’s not just a hassle for the company, but also for the employees having to make out-of-pocket expenses and wait for reimbursement claims to be settled.

In these cases, knowing what is a corporate card is crucial for the business. Equipping employees with corporate cards allows them to use company funds regardless of where they are, while the company can easily track and manage the card usage.

Most corporate card providers come with a cost, whether that is an initial setup cost or an annual fee. Companies that are considering getting corporate cards should research all the possible charges and weigh them against the benefits. 

Generally, companies that are spending a lot of time dealing with manual administrative work will be able to save a lot of time and money with corporate cards. These benefits will likely outweigh the costs.

While smaller companies may see fewer immediate advantages to using corporate cards, it’s important to consider the potential scalability of the business. Businesses that intend to scale can benefit from using a corporate card, meaning that these benefits will become more impactful as the business grows. 

Businesses that know they will conduct a lot of international transactions in the near future, for example, will appreciate corporate cards as tools to streamline the process.

Contrary to popular belief, issuing corporate cards will not lessen the control a company has over its funds. With the right policies and practices, these cards can actually improve compliance within the organization. 

If a company has a lot of employees, equipping each employee with a card can streamline expense management. All the finance team has to do is access the card management dashboard and view information about every single card, all in one place.

Ideally, you want to look for a corporate card provider that offers both physical and virtual cards for all your business needs. While they function similarly, there may be times when you specifically need one type of card or the other. Having access to both through the same provider will come in handy in that case.

Regardless, you want to consider what the primary card needs for your business are. If you have many employees that make T&E spending on-ground, for example, physical corporate cards may fit the bill more.

Conversely, if you have a lot of online subscriptions that need to be managed, virtual cards can give you better visibility.



You may not want all your employees to have access to the same spending limit. Some positions or departments may need a bigger limit for their corporate card purchases, while others will only need it for small expenses. In that case, it’s helpful to be able to customize each individual card limit.

More importantly, the ability to set spending limits for your corporate cards means that you can rest easy and not have to worry about overspending. Each card’s limit will be accounted for, meaning that you won’t go over your total budget for card spending.



Unlike payments made through bank transfers where every payment made must first be authorized, the way cards work is that your payment will go through as soon as you swipe your card or submit your card details. Understandably, many business owners and executives will have concerns with card payments.

However, with the right corporate card provider, you can ensure that you have certain approval workflows in place to minimize this.

Card expense reports, for example, must be monitored, reviewed, and approved by the designated approvers. If there are any out-of-policy expenses, you can easily pinpoint and deal with them before they become a big issue.



Oftentimes the thing that becomes an issue with corporate cards is that expenses made through them can be difficult to log and reconcile. If your accounting team is having a difficult time with card expense bookkeeping, then that defeats the purpose of getting corporate cards for easier payment processes.

You want to look for card providers that enable accounting software integration to make closing your books painless. A good provider will allow you to link your corporate cards to a platform system that you can use to not only log your expenses but also easily integrate and sync data with your accounting software.



Logging your corporate card expenses and being able to view them through a dashboard isn’t just handy for accounting purposes. More than that, it enables easier tracking, meaning you’ll have better visibility of how much you’re spending on business expenses. You can monitor the when, where, and why your expenses are happening.

When your card provider has expense reporting capabilities, you won’t have to worry about untracked out-of-policy expenses. One thing you want to look for in a provider is the ability to report card expenses on the go, such as through a mobile app that allows you to attach receipt pictures.

The healthcare sector is one where there are numerous purchases to be made, whether it be for hospital maintenance, healthcare equipment or medical supplies. Keeping account of all expenses can become difficult. Corporate cards are an effective way to control how much money can be spent or allocated in these circumstances. Check out article on why healthcare practitioners need corporate cards to know more about the benefits.

While many people may not be fully aware yet of what is a corporate card, those who do sometimes still look away from it. The reason for this is that oftentimes there are complex requirements that prompt businesses to jump through hoops to get a corporate card. 

Luckily, the corporate card space is seeing more and more modern providers that boast easy processes. Nowadays, you’ll be able to find card providers that will allow you to get started with using your corporate cards in just a week or two. The application process doesn’t have to be lengthy or complicated.



When asking what is a corporate card, a lot of the answers you get will mention that it is a form of secure payment. However, different corporate card providers will have different security measures and standards. You’ll want to be sure that the provider you’re getting your cards from is offering top security.

It’s a good idea to check if a provider has industry-standard certifications. Having them is a positive sign, ensuring that your data is safe and secure with them. Beyond that, extra features that provide an added layer of security such as the ability to restrict certain transactions, freeze, and even block cards are things that you will want to have.

There are a lot of factors that a business wants to consider when it comes to selecting its corporate card program. Things such as annual fees, card management features, accounting integration, and more should be looked at. However, one feature that almost all businesses will be able to take advantage of and should look for is vendor categories. 

For organizations that intend to use their cards for multiple expense categories within the business, it’s important to ensure they know what is a corporate card and all its use cases. However, some businesses may actually want the option to customize vendor category restrictions or limitations to control their spending better.

Corporate cards are flexible and can be used across multiple platforms for transactions, making it easy to make both in-store and online purchases just with a single card. 

Businesses may need to make in-store purchases for lunch or dinner meetings, office supplies, customer gifts, and more. Corporate cards can also be used to pay for online bookings or make e-commerce purchases through websites and other payment gateways. They are a flexible option for most business transactions.

As business operations and payments grow increasingly digital, contactless and cashless payments are becoming more popular. For online and remote purchases, this is much more convenient. Businesses no longer need to send cheques or do cash deliveries. 

Even in-store purchases are much more streamlined with contactless payment methods. Employees can rest assured that every payment is the exact amount it should be without worrying about having to carry change.

Businesses that have employees who engage in a lot of international business travel will find it much easier to make those related expenses with a corporate card, meaning that there is less need for manual cash payments and travel expense reimbursements. 

That aside, many corporate cards are also accepted by merchants in a lot of countries. This reduces the need to exchange money for different currencies. Instead, businesses can use a single card for all T&E expenses.

Corporate cards are not just useful for smaller employee expenses on the go. Many modern vendors and suppliers offer multiple payment options, with corporate card payments being one of the common methods. 

Use corporate cards to centralize vendor and supplier payments process. With a payment gateway or portal, vendors can accept card payments online from anywhere. This also ensures that money sent to vendors is logged automatically, minimizing the risks of missed or duplicate payments. 

Equipping employees with corporate cards promotes a culture of responsibility and accountability within the organization. Employees will be satisfied with having more control and freedom with access to company funds. 

Making employees feel trusted will boost motivation. Not only that, but corporate cards can also be used to provide employees with benefits such as lounge access during trips. Businesses can also easily incentivize employees by allowing them to use their cards to buy themselves gifts.

It’s a well-known fact that international bank transfers can be slow and quite costly. While this use case may not be at the forefront of most business owners’ minds, businesses can use corporate cards to streamline cross-border transactions.

May modern vendors offer a plethora of payment options, including corporate cards. Take advantage of this and settle payments for foreign vendors using corporate cards to make it easier for everyone involved.

Given the recurrent nature of subscription payments, it is no surprise that businesses want a way to make these payments easy, especially because they must be made on a regular basis. 

Rather than creating a payment each time a subscription bill is due, businesses can set up an auto-billing date to significantly streamline the process. Some virtual corporate cards also allow users to set a custom expiry date so subscriptions can be stopped on time.

One of the best ways to control card spending is by implementing spending limits. Fortunately, most corporate cards have built-in spending limits. Knowing what is a corporate card can help companies enforce these limits automatically with ease.

Make sure to set each card’s limit before employees start using them. When the card reaches its limit, no more expenses can be made.

Make sure that employees know that they are responsible for the corporate cards they hold. Assign cards to the appropriate cardholders to introduce better accountability. Cardholders know that expenses will be under their names, promoting a culture of responsibility within the organization.

Paired with automated expense tracking and streamlined reporting, employees will know that they can be held accountable for every transaction.

Employees will be more likely to adhere to company policies if they fully understand what the policies are. This is why it’s important for organizations to create clear guidelines on how their corporate cards are meant to be used before employees start swiping or making online purchases.

Make sure to hold knowledge training sessions regarding company expense policies and address any concerns or queries.

Take advantage of features such as automated expense tracking. The finance and management teams should regularly monitor the card expense history, which should be accessible through a card dashboard with most providers.

While many systems have the ability to flag suspicious expenses and send alerts, it’s still a good idea to spare some time to review employee expenses.

Streamlining finance processes is key to improving efficiency. Rather than manually syncing data between multiple processes and systems, it’s good practice to integrate any corporate card the company uses with a good expense management system.

This allows the finance department to automatically assess and consider card expenses as part of the company’s larger expense management processes. Data can be directly synced to improve accuracy.

Implementing corporate cards is rarely a one-and-done process. While it’s true that corporate cards are meant to automate and streamline business finances, they still require a bit of maintenance to ensure that the business implementing them is getting the best results possible.

Businesses should schedule regular reviews and audits to spot pain points and bottlenecks, which helps them improve card-related procedures.

One of the benefits of using corporate cards is that companies can reduce the amount of paper they use. Online transactions and paperless expense reporting helps not only the company but also the environment. 

Plenty of corporate card providers have also started to put an emphasis on sustainability and make a commitment to introducing more environmentally friendly features, such as digital reports and integrations to minimize paperwork.

While many people know the corporate card meaning, it is still common to think of physical cards when it comes to corporate cards. However, virtual cards are also gaining rapid popularity due to their ease of use.

Those who know what is a corporate card will know that virtual cards are useful when it comes to managing subscriptions and online purchases. Providers are taking notice, with many looking to expand their virtual card solutions.

It can be a hassle to have to carry a lot of cards around, especially during business trips. Not to mention the risk of losing or compromising cards. This is why plenty of modern-day providers have started offering integration capabilities with digital wallets. 

This trend will likely not only persevere but also grow in the near future, as contactless payments and online purchases become more popular. It will also make virtual cards useable for in-store payments.