Control the chaos: how modern finance departments can combat shadow spending

Can a company ever really have complete control over all corporate spending?

Controlling corporate spending can be a serious challenge for finance departments, especially as advancements in technology outpace dated procurement processes. In the SaaS-based, everything-on-demand business world, companies not only have to fight shadow IT, but finance teams are also facing shadow spending. Credit card usage can easily get out of control, often leaving accounts payable (AP) in the dark until the monthly statement shows up providing insight on what was purchased, but not providing any of the details on what the spend was for or who authorised it (if it was authorised at all).

Whether it’s a development team buying more server space or a marketing team advertising on social media, the vendors they’re working with often prefer card payments at onset, requiring specific limits before agreeing to invoice a customer. Why? It’s a modern, more efficient way for them to handle their billing or AP. However, if the company buying the service doesn’t have the right controls in place in their AP department, it can quickly become a nightmare trying to reconcile monthly statements, hunt down purchasers and gather any supporting documentation.

Even more serious an issue is controlling the actual spending. Auto-renewals, unauthorised purchases and mistaken double payments via credit cards all add to the chaos. Without the proper control and oversight, finance departments can be in for a big surprise at the end of the month.

Fortunately, there’s hope for finance teams who want to regain a sense of control over credit card spend, due in large part to modernisation trends in the finance market and expedited by the necessity of remote work due to the global pandemic.

Here’s what a company should be looking for when it comes to regaining control overspend.

Bringing everything under one roof

Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to bounce around different systems to reconcile payments (whether by bank transfer, cheque or credit card)? Stampli, an AP automation platform, puts all your corporate spending in one place, no matter how it’s paid. AP teams can process payments without switching between multiple systems, while also eliminating manual data entry of payment records or credit card transactions.

Finance teams have access and visibility to invoices, credit card transactions and payment details in a centralised location. A communication feed attached to each invoice makes it easy for questions to get asked and answered, while an audit trail captures all activity so everyone gets context. And while all-in-one is a dream, ERPs can’t be (nor should be) forgotten here. Stampli integrates with ERPs so data flows seamlessly.

Taking control at every turn

Now let’s talk about credit card spend. Since credit card transactions typically do not involve invoices, the process for accounting to verify transactions, enter them into the ERP and reconcile statements is extremely manual and time-consuming – which is why teams need a better solution.

Stampli’s introduction of the Stampli Card gives complete control over credit card usage. Users can instantly create cards for specific or general usage based on the cardholder, usage type (one-time, multi-use, revolving), amount, vendor, purpose and budget. There’s also the option for configurable Stampli Card request and approval workflows to quickly create new cards based on your controls—and instantly suspend or cancel cards as needed.

This ultimately means no more waiting until the monthly statement, no more chasing down credit card purchases and no more credit card silos. Even better, there’s no chaos.

Smarter than the average

While many finance technologies incorporate automation in some way, Stampli takes the basics a step further in the form of Billy the Bot. Billy assists an AP team by prepopulating GL codes, identifying approvers, and pulling in associated POs, invoices and other relevant documentation and attaching it to the invoice or transaction. It also gets smarter over time – work done today will help to ‘teach’ and streamline work done in future.

The result of this is contextual coding and ever-learning intelligence, which can significantly reduce the time AP needs to prepare invoices for approvals. Teams can focus on oversight and accuracy instead of wasting valuable time hunting down information in multiple systems and folders.

With the Stampli Card, all transactions are connected and captured inside Stampli, so Billy can help process your card transactions like your invoices – coding, learning vendors, identifying potential matched transactions and notifying cardholders to upload their supporting documentation for their transactions.

More visibility, better strategy

What does all of this actually sum up to for an accounting or finance team? The holy grail of time. Being able to gain control over spend means more oversight and a greater ability to understand the big picture. Time isn’t spent on manual tasks, double-work or tracking things down; it’s spent on strategic thinking. Teams get more time and headspace to ensure their processes are both efficient and secure. And as one of Stampli’s award-winning Customer Success reps (who all have backgrounds in AP) shared: “Time is the most valuable thing we can give back to a customer.”

To learn more about controlling credit card spend chaos, visit Stampli.