Corporate cards

Benefits of using corporate travel cards for business travel

Jun 06, 2023

Business travel is an integral part of expense categories. It can be difficult to track and manage all travel expenses when you have employees taking business trips frequently. Management becomes even more complicated when employees use their own cash or cards and ask for reimbursements later. 


Reimbursement is in itself a complicated process because many things can go wrong. Fake receipts, late claim submission, faults in transfers with salaries, etc. This is why using corporate travel cards for travel expense management is the best solution. Plus, corporate travel cards are not just for better management; these can prove to be great assets as well. 

What are corporate travel cards?


Corporate travel cards are cards that the company issues to traveling employees. These cards are made for the ease of employees. All expenses, from airplane tickets to hotel booking, to meals and other entertainment expenses, can be effortlessly made through corporate travel cards. 


It is also beneficial since the employees will not have to spend from their pockets, and travel reimbursement will not be required.


Corporate travel cards are issued in the name of the company and often have the name of the employee mentioned on them. These cards are directly connected to the company’s funding source or bank account.

Benefits of using corporate travel cards


1. Enhanced expense management


The tiring and cumbersome process of storing all physical receipt copies, while on a business trip, can be effectively eliminated with corporate travel cards.


Expense reports can easily be created by importing the transaction details from the system. The whole expense entry and reconciliation process is automated and helps the company save time.


Moreover, with this automatic reconciliation, corporate travel cards are flexible to be integrated with the accounting system. So, the finance team members will not have to beat their heads over collecting expense data and accounting for them. They can easily pull up expense reports and records and make quick, effective decisions. 


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2. Reduction in manual paperwork and administrative tasks


The planning and successful completion of a business trip is induced with a lot of paperwork. Travel documents include tickets, visas, permissions, expense requirement approvals, etc. and most of them have accompanying receipts. All the administrative tasks related to corporate travel can easily be automated with corporate travel cards.


Once you get a corporate travel card, you can upload a certain amount of money and give that card to the traveling employees. That money in the card is their total allotted budget for the trip. They can easily book hotel and flight tickets, make meeting reservations, and other expenses.


All expenses will be automatically recorded in the card system, hence physical receipts collection also gets eliminated. Plus, these cards can seamlessly integrate with your ERP and accounting system. Hence, all data entry and reconciliation also happen automatically. 

3. Better spending control and visibility


Corporate travel cards provide the features to set spending limits and offer clear visibility. The card admins can upload the card with a certain amount of money, which is then the total budget given to the employees for the business trip.


Along with this, if any extra funds are required, the employees can easily request money from the corporate travel card’s app, and the managers can then approve or decline their requests. No extra paperwork or hassle.


As everything is tracked and recorded in real-time, the managers and admins will always know what amount of money was spent for what purposes and by whom. 


4. Reduction in expense fraud


There are times when the employees may seek some extra expenses or change some expense totals by amending the reimbursement claim. But with corporate travel cards, all expenses are recorded in real-time. This means no alterations can be made to the final expense database.


Along with this, as the employees will use the company-given corporate travel card, there will be no need to reimburse the employees, as there is no out-of-pocket expense incurred.


Overall you will see a stark reduction in expense fraud. 


5. Exemption from 20% TCS on international payments


The new fiscal year has brought into effect a 20% TCS (tax collected at source) payment to all international payments done by Indians — while traveling as well as paying online. Although there is a lower limit cap of INR 7 Lakh per annum, corporate travel can sometimes exceed this budget.


The process of then reclaiming the TCS can be a long and tedious one for employees, especially since the return isn’t made immediately.


To avoid this hassle for corporate travelers, the government has decided to not collect 20% TCS on payments made with corporate cards. So, using corporate cards can prevent you from blocking 20% TCS funds on your card.


6. Convenience and safety


Since corporate travel cards are specifically made to help with business travel expense requirements, convenience, and safety are top-notch. With these cards, you can effortlessly make travel purchases and bookings. As there is already a pre-set amount, there can be no overspending.


Plus, these cards are also convenient for making purchases internationally, as they support international currency payments and conversions as well.


Moreover, corporate travel cards are built with various safety factors like two-factor authentication, 3DS protocol, approval mandate, etc. Hence, all transactions are made under tight safety. 


7. Improved compliance and policy enforcement


There are times when employees might go above budget with booking or travel purchases. But with corporate travel cards, expense policy compliance and budget enforcement become easier, as the employees are only given an amount allotted according to the budget.


Along with this, some cards allow restricting payments to certain types of vendors, which helps in keeping the expense category compliance under check.


Discover the essential elements of a successful corporate card expense policy. Dive into our insightful article and optimize your expense management practices today.


8. Rewards and cost savings


Corporate travel cards are specifically designed to help with the business travel expenses of a company. So, these cards are not just beneficial for management purposes; they also provide various rewards and cashback offers.


Some of the common ones are travel points, free lounge access, discounts on ticket bookings, and cashback on certain amounts or types of payment.


Along with this, corporate travel cards are great for cost saving. As all processes and payments are automated, all the extra costs of manual processing and overspending are effectively eliminated. 


9. Streamlined reimbursement process


Corporate travel cards record every expense, and a database is maintained with all expense details in the system linked with the card. This means that even if the employees have to upload the card with their own money, reimbursements can be made easily.


Reimbursement claim submission can be done in a few seconds, and the approval of that claims can also be done quickly with just a click.

Factors to consider while getting a corporate travel card

Ease of application

Before choosing a corporate travel card for your business, look into how the card will work and integrate with your existing business system.


The card you select must be flexible and easy to use. All the card features should be easily accessible, and the card application should not be complicated.

Types of cards offered

You might also want to look into the different types of cards available. There are corporate debit cards, corporate cards, specific travel cards, prepaid corporate cards, virtual cards, etc.


Research all the types and providers and choose the one that best aligns with your business requirements.

Acceptance

When we talk about corporate travel cards, one of the most important features is international acceptance.


Make sure that the card you choose is widely accepted and allows foreign exchange in a variety of currencies.

Travel benefits

Travel benefits are another essential consideration factor in the process of selecting a corporate travel card.


You want to go for the one that is not only a solution to all your expense pain points but also offers extra rewards.

How can Volopay cards help streamline corporate travel


Volopay is an all-in-one spend management platform specifically built to help businesses automate travel expense management processes. Naturally, if there is spend management, cards are an integral part of it. Volopay cards can help you easily manage your corporate travel expense and administrative work.


Features like real-time expense tracking and recording, spend control limits, automatic budget compliance, direct accounting integration, unlimited virtual cards, lowest FX rates on international transactions, and many more make Volopay cards the best in the market.

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