When you make software it’s natural to focus on the nuts and bolts of how the product works. But one thing we’ve seen consistently across our customers is that Float changes the way people experience their work lives, whether you work in finance or any other role where you incur work expenses.
Our new fall brand campaign focuses on these emotions – relief, confidence, even pure delight – in a series of portraits depicting everyday work scenarios.
If you can see yourself in one of these, it’s because we turned to our customers for inspiration. Your comments come through loud and clear in our conversations, both digital and IRL. We love seeing how Float has changed the way you feel at work.
Huge thanks to our creative partners Kailee Mandel, Renga, Distilled Creative and George Street Growth for bringing this campaign to life, in Float speed, no less.
Two years ago, Float officially launched with a big, bold mission to simplify spend for Canadian companies and teams.
Since then we’ve helped thousands of finance teams take control over their spending while saving millions of hours in receipt collection and reconciliations.
As a result of providing this value, we grew revenue 4x over the past year, and over 100x since our very first month in business. We went from serving startups to a cross section of the Canadian economy, with customers now processing over 140,000 monthly transactions through Float.
Here are a few Float milestones from the last year:
New payment solutions with the launch of Float USD and Charge Card products
Since Float’s inception, USD cards have been the number one product requested by our customers. Many were frustrated by the offerings (or lack thereof) from Canada’s big banks, as most require a US legal entity, and none offer the advanced spend management tools that Float has become known for.
The response to our USD Cards has been phenomenal, resulting in a 5x increase in customers and 8x increase in transaction volume since launch. USD has become a core part of Float’s business, accounting for close to 20% of total spend.
Float’s Charge Card launched in summer 2022, offering extremely high limits compared to alternatives, with no interest or fees. Similar to our USD Cards, our Charge Card product has experienced exceptional takeup with 7x customer growth and 10x payment volume growth since its introduction.
Spend controls that lower risk while increasing productivity
The economic climate of the last year has underlined how critical it is for companies to have tight control over all spending. We help finance leaders by giving them real time visibility into spending across their business, and advanced controls that lower the risk of issuing cards to employees.
Merchant Controls give finance teams the ability to restrict card spending by merchant category.
Float’s Expense Policy gives teams the ability to implement company expense policies directly in Float, from defining the transaction information that employees are required to submit, to assigning multiple approval layers for employee spend requests within an organization.
Audit Logs that enable admins to easily view and export a history of cardcreation, changes, pauses, expiration, and deletion for all their Float cards to date.
Powerful accounting automations that save thousands of hours
Every other functional team has benefited from digital transformation and modernization. Float’s spend management solution does this for the finance function.
We shipped new automations and enhancements that save thousands of hours in manual accounting tasks, including:
Automated receipt matching
Personalized receipt forwarding
Suggested GL codes
Customers have shared that with Float, month-end is much faster, they can now do continuous closes, and they can scale the finance function without having to add additional overhead.
“Float saves the accounting team countless precious hours at month end. This will allow the team to refocus on more value-add activities like analysis of the spend rather than spending hours on data aggregation.”
Benjamin Koppeser, Senior Manager, Finance, Clutch
Real-time reporting that helps teams find savings
We heard from customers that traditional providers made it difficult to have real-time visibility over spend, and no reporting capabilities to easily spot concerning trends.
With that in mind, Float launched our new Reporting functionality in close collaboration with our largest customers, a feature that is being used weekly by the majority of our customers.
Float customers can see a snapshot of company spending and be able to analyze trends over time. With financial data visualizations of both CAD and USD spending, they can view month-to-date spending and quickly identify increases or decreases in spending patterns.
Admins can also run custom spend reports by merchant, vendor, GL code, category, cardholder, team, or tag to get a more detailed understanding of where company money is going. This level of insight can help finance teams identify areas of overspending or opportunities for cost savings.
“In the past I was reviewing the spending daily to spot any anomalies or large spends that required further analysis. We were not following up at month end to look at any trends or patterns in the spending by customer or by buyer. My team can now analyze company spending quickly and easily. It adds another check and balance to our arsenal that we didn’t have before.”
Gino Cacciatore, CFO, Skybox Labs
Serving the needs of larger, more complex organizations
As Float’s customers grow, so do the needs of their finance team. Over the last 12 months, we introduced new functionality to better serve these larger midmarket customers.
SSO + SAML enables Single Sign-On (SSO) and provides increased security and convenience for companies by allowing for just one set of secure login credentials across platforms, including Float. SAML works by passing information about users, logins, and attributes between the service providers and identity providers (iDp) including Azure, Okta, Auth0, and OneLogin.
MFA works to improve account security and prevent unauthorized login attempts by requiring an additional “factor” to verify that the person logging in is really who they say they are. This can include a text message with a unique code or a one-time-password (OTP) issued by a third party authenticator app such as Google Authenticator.
Float’s NetSuite integration gives admins the ability to set rules to automatically code transactions with GL Codes, Vendors, Departments, Classes, Tax Codes & Locations, as well as export them to NetSuite with embedded receipts.
The modern day finance tech stack
It’s never been a more exciting time to build a company and products that serve Canadian finance teams. People across every level of finance are eager to bring modernization, automation and new solutions to the way they work.
We are grateful to serve the most innovative and respected teams in Canada and we are excited to continue on this journey.
Founded in 2018, PolicyMe is a startup life insurance company that modernizes the way people purchase life insurance online – making the process quicker, smoother, and more approachable. We sat down with their Strategy and Finance Manager, Suvansh Mehta, who has been with the company for just under two years. Since onboarding, Suvansh has first-hand experience using Float and had nothing but excellent feedback on the platform.
How long have you been using Float? What about Float made you choose them?
We started using Float in February 2022. Last year, our company headcount grew by 50% and our spending process at the time simply wasn’t cutting it for our level of growth. Our team and expenses increased and it was getting difficult to keep track of. In January, I noticed a lot of gaps and missing invoices from year-end. This wasn’t the way we wanted to start Q1 2022 so we became eager to find a better solution. That’s when our CEO introduced me to Float and I was instantly impressed with the quality and breadth of their features.
PolicyMe was looking for a way to issue credit cards easier – both physical and virtual – and Float deemed the best solution. Previously, we were sharing credit cards across the team, but this process wasn’t setting us up for growth. It became difficult to distinguish who was spending what, there was little accountability among spenders, and the reconciliation process was unimaginably tedious to say the least.
Float’s receipt management feature really won us over. The capability to link receipts from an employee and finance perspective, being able to forward invoices directly into Float, and automatch to the correct transaction together has saved us so much time.
What were the biggest pain points that Float solved for your business?
Before Float, we had very little oversight of who was spending company dollars and what the transactions were for. Today, we have the ability to instantly issue credit cards per vendor and assign them to specific users in various departments, resulting in greater spending accountability – all thanks to Float.
Being able to set card limits also helps us stay on budget and reassess whether a specific vendor is still worth using. These pre-set spending limits have been a positive trigger point and encourage us to constantly question and stay on top of our expenses.
“If there’s one corporate card used across the company, it’s difficult to discern if there are fee increases or unauthorized renewals from a vendor. But Float makes it easy for us to monitor and avoid that altogether.”
“Float’s approval workflow feature is also really helpful because it enables us to structure spend approval based on job titles. We’re able to give department managers the authority to approve a specific dollar amount, while anything greater goes to upper management to approve. “
As a startup, it’s incredible for us to experience this level of financial organization by implementing a platform that doesn’t come with a hefty price tag or intense infrastructure. Not only has Float upgraded the way we keep track of how and where money is being spent but it has also improved our lives in the finance department. We’ve got multiple eyes on our dollars now.
What particular features were the most useful to your team and why?
The ability to issue and assign individual cards to employees was incredibly useful for us. Before, our team would have informal discussions on corporate spending and there was no clear or documented form of communication for it. At one point, we started using Google Forms to formalize the way we approved spending but it didn’t hold a candle to Float.
Now that we are fully immersed in Float, we’re able to easily communicate cross-functionally about spending policies, card limits, and authority – with the added benefit of being able to instantly distribute cards and adjust spend as we need to. The entire process is speedy and efficient – it’s exactly what we needed.
“Float has also played an integral role in the way we monitor and prevent expense fraud. While we haven’t come across any grave instances, it’s reassuring to know that we have these controls in place. “
How did the PolicyMe team respond to Float?
We received a really positive response from leadership.
There’s a general reassurance that Float offers – we know where funds are going and there’s more accountability being shared.
Float makes our spending process less ‘top down’ and allows us to provide managers and employees more autonomy to make daily spending decisions.
Our employees were also very enthusiastic about the simple process of getting a corporate card and requesting spend. We also received a lot of positive feedback about being able to upload a picture of a receipt via text. Our employees value convenience and Float delivers every time.
What would you say to other companies that are considering working with Float?
Go for it! Float is a fantastic company. It’s really great to be able to issue cards, manage receipts, monitor spend, and integrate with your accounting software.
“The level of support from the Float team is unmatched. It’s been the best part about working with their team. They are extremely responsive, personable, and always address my questions and concerns without delay.”
It’s very easy for us to reach out to Float and have our questions solved in a timely manner. There’s zero down time because the team addresses our problems within an hour, as opposed to three days or more. If I have a problem, I’m able to get a solution quickly. This is important especially if I am troubleshooting something for someone else in the company. If you’re looking for a software that checks all the boxes, it’s definitely Float.
About PolicyMe
PolicyMe offers a better way to buy life insurance in Canada with a mission to always put families first, protecting them with simple and affordable insurance policies.
Athennian is a SaaS startup with a mission to make work easier for paralegals, law clerks, lawyers, tax professionals, and finance teams – with software that manages documents and legal entities all in the cloud. With a lean finance team and rapid employee growth this past year, Athennian knew they needed to level up their internal spend and expense management process; that’s when they found Float. We sat down with Athennian’s Director of Finance, Zach Hill and Junior Accountant, Trevor Aasen to learn how Float is changing things at their startup for the better.
Q1: How long have you been using Float and why did you decide to choose us?
We’ve been using Float since September 2021. We had always been interested in virtual cards as a way to manage spend but there weren’t really any solutions available in Canada. We found Float and it was everything we needed and more. Prior to Float, we had difficulties categorising purchases and identifying spenders on many of the expenses coming through our corporate card. As the company continued to grow and the volume of transactions continued to increase, old processes were no longer sustainable.
“Float’s functionality met all of our needs for a spending software. They make it easy to set up and issue cards, automate approvals and manage transactions across all departments.”
Our global headquarters is in Calgary and we have employees scattered across North America. We believe it’s important for everyone to be able to travel and come together as one team and this is a major reason why we were so eager to partner with Float to help manage that category of expenses.
Q2: What did company spending and expense management look like at your company before Float?
Super manual is the best way to describe our old way of doing things. Our processes lacked structure and expenses didn’t always have a clear paper trail. With a fast-growing team, it became increasingly difficult to categorize our transactions and identify spenders.
Managing expenses became more onerous as our team grew, particularly as a company that has folks travelling from different parts of the continent. We had credit cards from traditional Canadian banks and different employees would use those cards to make business purchases. The problem was that it wasn’t always crystal clear where to code those purchases and our finance team had to move mountains to figure everything out, while getting a hold of receipts at the same time.
Working with Float has changed things immensely for us. Today over 50% of our SaaS subscriptions have their own designated Float card; we know exactly what the subscription is for and which department owns the subscription. We can also issue corporate cards easily for individual employees so they can make business purchases directly on their own card, whether they’re travelling or not.
Q3: What were your biggest pain points?
Zach: A significant portion of our month-end process used to involve the finance team tracking down receipts and trying to understand the nature of the expenses. Without a scaleable way to accurately code expenses, putting together departmental forecasts required a significant lift. Float has unlocked so much additional time for the team around month-end. Even as the company has nearly doubled in size since we engaged with Float, Trevor can now independently process the company’s expenses in less time, while I have significantly more visibility and insight into departmental expenses which drives an effective forecasting function.
In March 2022, Athennian closed its Series B funding round to secure $42 million of funding to take the company to its next growth stage. Due diligence for the funding round required us to provide potential investors with SaaS financial metrics and other detailed financial reporting. Float allows us to easily capture these metrics with accuracy, while giving us the confidence to share them with potential investors to accelerate our growth.
Q4: What particular features were the most useful to your team?
“The receipt capture feature has played a big role in improving receipt compliance to close to 100% and enhancing the overall accuracy of our accounting.”
Before Float, we maintained all of our merchant, account and department relationships in an Excel spreadsheet that we had to refer back to everytime we posted a transaction. We also had people sending JPEG files of their receipts – not a scalable process to say the least. When team members found out they could automatically submit receipts by sending in pictures, it was such a game changer! Float also automatically codes our receipts by merchants, accounts and tax codes, making the process even more efficient and significantly improving the employee experience.
“We’ve been able to reduce our number of manual expense reports by 80% even with our company headcount growing nearly 40%.”
Being able to issue individual cards for specific spend categories has also been a huge success for us. As mentioned, business travel is a big one for us. Now that travel restrictions are easing and people are out and about, we have had employees venturing off site and attending conferences in Las Vegas and New York. With Float, we were able to issue our employees physical cards to book their accommodations and flight tickets, as well as any other business-related purchases during their trip.
Our team also loves the flexibility of having SaaS subscriptions on separate cards. It provides visibility on categorisation and is much cleaner to wind up one card when we want to close off a particular software subscription. Previously, we had all of our SaaS subscriptions on two credit cards which was difficult to manage, and it wasn’t always clear which employee owned the software relationship. Because so many vendors were mapped to only two cards, simply cancelling a card after terminating a specific vendor contract wasn’t possible.
Q5: What is the best part about working with Float?
Athennian prides itself on being a company of builders, learners, and creatives, and working with Float has unlocked so much more capacity for us to do those things as a team.
About Athennian Athennian is a modern, cloud-based business entity management platform that powers legal, finance, and tax professionals to seamlessly manage and automate corporate entities. As an innovative business solution disrupting one segment of the business world, Athennian is helping clients reduce expenses and increase efficiency while enabling them to be transaction, audit, and compliance-ready at a moment’s notice. Business professionals use Athennian to automate workflows for ownership, governance, tax, and corporate compliance. Athennian’s headquarters is based in Calgary and has a second office in Toronto, with additional team members across the U.S. To learn more, please visit www.Athennian.com.
The corporate finance department is changing, and so are the roles and responsibilities of its leaders. Data and technology are being used in new and strategic ways, leading to fundamental shifts in the way finance professionals work.
Automation, communications, people management and training are just some of the areas that are evolving.
When you’re looking for advice that could benefit your company in these areas, there isn’t always someone in your professional network that can help. And if you’re trying to become a better finance leader, you probably want to learn from the best.
What if you could hear from other seasoned finance professionals about how they overcame some of these challenges in their own unique way? Whether you’re implementing a zero based budgeting model for the first time or raising a Series B, there’s a good chance someone has been in your shoes before.
Listening to their stories just might help you turn these milestones into career defining opportunities.
We’re excited to launch Retained Learnings, a new podcast for Canadian finance leaders. Hosted by Float CEO Rob Khazzam, Retained Learnings will feature Canada’s most respected and accomplished finance and business names to bring you some of the lessons they’ve collected during their careers.
In each episode of Retained Learnings, we’ll share strategic advice and potential solutions to answer some of the finance departments most important questions. We’ll touch on topics like preparing to go public, hiring in a tight talent market, or even moving to an ERP solution like NetSuite.
If you’re a Canadian finance professional, curious about how the best finance leaders in the country do their jobs, be sure to listen to Retained Learnings. Now available on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
More often than not, company expense policies have not evolved. Employees will make a business purchase using personal funds, submit the necessary information to get it approved by finance, and later get reimbursed via payroll. That’s a lot of administrative overhead (and delayed financials). That’s why we’ve put together this Guide to a Modern Expense Policy.
With Float, finance teams can modernize their expense policy and become more proactive about their spending. But first…
What is an expense policy?
An expense policy is a set of guidelines that clearly defines:
Acceptable and unacceptable business expenses
Processes for expense approval and reimbursement
This framework helps finance departments quickly validate expenses and gives employees a clear understanding of permissible spending.
Benefits of having expense policies
Implementing an expense policy offers numerous advantages:
Provides a structured approach to control company-wide spending
Standardizes rules for expense management
Prevents non-compliant expenses
Assists finance teams in efficiently evaluating spend requests
Enables senior management to control costs and forecast spending accurately
With everyone aligned on the company spending guidelines, senior management is better able to control costs more efficiently and calculate spending forecasts.
Types of Expense Policies
Expense policies can vary based on company size and industry. Some businesses opt for a broad, all-encompassing policy, while others create specific policies for:
Travel
Entertainment
Departmental expenses
Key Components of an Expense Policy
A comprehensive expense policy typically includes:
Expense Categories: Different types of expenses that employees can incur, like travel, meals, accommodation, or office supplies.
Spending Limits: Clear limits for each expense category, specifying the maximum amount employees can spend without additional approvals.
Approval Process: The steps employees must follow to obtain approval before incurring expenses, including any documentation required.
Documentation Requirements: The supporting documents, such as receipts or invoices, that employees need to submit along with their expense reports.
Reimbursement Procedures: How employees should submit expense reports, including the required forms or software systems.
Non-Reimbursable Expenses: Expenses that are not eligible for reimbursement, such as personal expenses, fines, or alcohol.
Travel and Accommodation Guidelines: Guidelines for booking flights, hotels, and rental cars, including preferred vendors and any travel-related policies.
Expense Audit and Compliance: The process of auditing expense reports and the consequences of non-compliance with the policy.
What’s the downside?
While essential, traditional expense policies can lead to challenges.
High administrative overhead
Recent industry research reveals startling figures about corporate expense management:
Typical businesses handle over 50,000 expense reports annually
The cost of processing these reports can exceed $500,000 per year
Companies spend around 3,000 hours yearly fixing errors in expense reports
Correcting a single expense report costs an additional $50+ on average
Nearly one in five expense reports contain errors or missing information
For small businesses, the average time to approve an expense report is over a week
About a quarter of expense reports don’t comply with company policies
Almost half of small businesses lack clear procedures for handling non-compliant expenses
These figures highlight a pressing need for improvement in expense management processes. As a business owner, you’d likely address any other system with such a high failure rate immediately. It’s time to give expense management the same attention and upgrade it for better efficiency and accuracy.
Employee Dissatisfaction and Frustration
Recent research by Allstar Business Solutions reveals alarming trends in employee expense claiming habits.
According to the study, over a third of workers never claim back expenses, with 58% avoiding claims under £5 (SmallBusiness.co.uk, 2018).
The survey of 2,001 British workers uncovered significant gender disparities, with women claiming less than half the amount men do on average.
Furthermore, 25% of employees have postponed or cancelled meetings to avoid out-of-pocket expenses, while 64% describe the claiming process as frustrating.
These findings highlight the urgent need for businesses to streamline their expense management processes, as inefficient systems not only impact employee satisfaction but can also hinder business growth by discouraging necessary expenditures.
The Future of Expense Policies: Automated Solutions with Float
Enter Float – a revolutionary solution that automates expense policy implementation. With Float, you can:
Set spending boundaries directly on company cards
Ensure automatic compliance with company guidelines
Prompt cardholders to upload receipts and expense information in real-time
Issue cards to all team members without worry
Gain real-time visibility and control over company-wide spending
Here’s how:
✅ Approve spend before it happens
Multi-level Approval policies based on your company’s organization structure lets employees easily request to make a purchase from managers (with an audit trail).
🤖 Automatically collect receipts and GL codes
Submission Policies let you define the information employees are required to submit with each transaction, like receipts and GL codes, and will pause cards without them.
🛡️ Protect your company from unauthorized spend
Individual card controls like Merchant Controls let you restrict spending at certain merchant categories and custom Recurring and Temporary limits ensure your company doesn’t get overcharged.
📉 Get insights into your cash flow
Float’s Reporting feature provides a real-time overview of company spending with insights into who is spending what.
Conclusion: Revolutionize Your Expense Management
Don’t let outdated expense policies hold your business back. Embrace the future of expense management with automated solutions like Float. By implementing smart, efficient expense policies, you can take control of your company’s spending while fostering growth and innovation.
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Want to learn more about Canada’s smartest corporate cards and business spend software? Get our Spend Management Guide at the link below.
We sat down with Adrian Pape, Klue’s VP of Finance, to discuss the company’s experience with Float over the last year. Klue’s software combines the best of competitive intelligence and revenue enablement — giving their clients a leg up through advanced market and competitive insights. When it came to their finances, Klue needed a change, especially after facing regular issues of fraud, blocked credit cards, unauthorized purchases and more. Here’s what Adrian had to say.
Q1: How did you hear about Float?
I found Float after doing a bit of my own research. Eventually, I met with Shawn and watched some pre-recorded demos of the platform. In terms of customer care and service, the standard Shawn set was a cut above. As it turned out, Float (called Journal at the time) was exactly what we were looking for. Plus, the 1% cashback was definitely something that caught our eye.
Q2: Before Float, what did company spending and expense management look like?
We had roughly 13 corporate credit cards — seven American cards and six Canadian. During that time, our credit cards were constantly being blocked. Employees who didn’t have corporate credit cards were filling out reimbursement forms and uploading receipts. As you can imagine, correctly capturing tax information from those receipts was a headache. There was probably between $10,000 and $20,000 of accumulated GST from old expense reports that fell through the cracks.
“Credit cards in our company were scattered everywhere and there was a slew of unidentifiable charges on these cards. Finding out who they were from or what they were for took days, if not weeks.”
There were also a few instances of external fraud. Because all the cards had been compromised at one point or another, 13 new cards had to be issued, with each and every connection having to be re-established using a new credit card number. We had no control over who was adding recurring charges to cards and there was no visibility or accountability. Essentially, no one knew who was spending what because the cards were used so often – it was a significant challenge. 🤯
Q3: What are the biggest pain points that Float solved for your business?
At the time, we didn’t have someone dedicated to looking after payroll – so I had taken on the responsibility in the interim. On top of my primary responsibilities, I had to review and import expense reports and keep track of 150+ people who needed to be reimbursed. Since implementing Float, the burden is a lot smaller. At Klue, we have established a strong culture of trust and transparency, so it’s been a nice perk to be able to set up virtual cards for employees and give them the freedom to make business-related purchases. Another huge advantage for us is the SMS receipt capture feature. 🤳🏾 It allows our employees to submit their receipts in real-time directly through Float using their smartphone.
“It gives us greater control because we’re able to monitor company spending, easily approve purchase requests, and Float reminds employees to submit their receipts on time.”
Float also saves our employees time since the last thing they want to do at the end of the month or year is dig out and submit hundreds of receipts. Instead, it gets it done in the moment and is off their plate, which many of them appreciate.
Q4: What features were the most useful to you and your team?
“Float’s Quickbooks integration allows us to seamlessly connect to our chart of accounts and retrieve and update our tax codes – no problem!”
With the QB feature, we no longer have to waste time producing expense reports. It’s as easy as reviewing the tax figures, allocating the expense, and clicking Export to Quickbooks – then Float takes care of the rest! 🤩I would also say that being able to give non-managers and non-finance employees access to an individual corporate credit card with a pre-approved limit has been great for our team. 💳 It’s eliminated a lot of the complication and mess we were previously experiencing with unauthorized purchases and poor spend visibility.
Q5: How did your finance and operations team respond to implementing Float?
The crew was ecstatic that it all worked out. 👏🏼 Buying software is always a little frightening but after a couple of demos, and working with the Float team, we were up and running pretty quick. We also have a Float x Klue Slack channel where Float employees can read our threads and listen to what’s going on. Every now and then, we will tag their team and share any key concerns and the team is incredibly responsive and helpful.
Q6: What advice would you give to other companies considering Float?
Don’t hesitate and get started right away. 🙌🏽 It’s quick, saves a lot of time, and the onboarding process is straightforward and easy. And the best part is that the Float team is right there with you at every step. They’re always taking our ideas and needs into account and continually looking for ways to better support us.
About Klue
Klue provides a lens into your competitor’s world, continuously updating and connecting the dots to help you win more business. It’s a new way to capture, manage, and communicate market insights from the web and across the company, in the platforms you already use.
In today’s fast-paced business world, marketing teams need to be agile and responsive. However, managing marketing expenses can often slow things down. A well-crafted marketing expense policy is crucial for balancing financial control with the flexibility marketers need. Let’s explore how Float, a leading expense management solution, can help Canadian marketing teams optimize their spending while adhering to company policies.
The Importance of a Marketing Expense Policy
A marketing expense policy is a set of guidelines that outline how marketing teams can spend company funds. It typically covers:
Approved categories of marketing expenses
Spending limits for different activities
Approval processes for various expense types
Documentation requirements for reimbursement
Having a clear marketing expense policy helps:
Control costs
Ensure compliance with company and legal standards
Streamline the approval process
Provide transparency in marketing spending
Common Challenges in Marketing Expense Management
Marketing teams often face unique expense management challenges:
Frequent small purchases for digital ads
Varied expenses for events and campaigns
Need for quick approvals on time-sensitive opportunities
Difficulty tracking ROI on marketing spend
How Float Revolutionizes Marketing Expense Policies
Float’s innovative expense management platform addresses these challenges head-on, helping marketing teams implement and adhere to their expense policies more effectively.
1. Easily request cards for marketing spend 🙌🏻
Your marketing team needs to be able to make strategic decisions fast, without any bottlenecks. Our Expense Policy features enable Finance Admins to give marketing team leaders the authority to set spending limits on cards and quickly approve spend requests from their staff.
You can log into Float at any time and easily request a single use virtual card for purchases like swag orders, props for shoots or photography equipment. For advertising and software subscriptions, you can request a recurring virtual card. Virtual cards are issued instantly and accepted everywhere VISA and Mastercard are – all you have to do is simply copy and paste the card details into the vendor’s billing details page.
2. Instantly create a virtual card by vendor 💳
Create a virtual card by vendor to easily categorize the types of recurring online spend your marketing team is making. A virtual card for every vendor gives you the option to create daily, weekly or even monthly recurring cards with assigned budgets. For example, if you know that your Facebook ad spend is $40K/month, you can create a recurring monthly card with that limit.
A virtual card by vendor allows you to:
💵 Set monthly budgets for specific marketing activities 👀 Easily track and control spending over the month ☑️ Set limits to every card to ensure spend isn’t exceeded ✋🏽 Ensure vendors don’t overcharge the card without your authorization 💳 Avoid disrupting other subscriptions or payments when you pause or cancel a card
3. Use physical cards for real world expenses 💳
The finance team can issue a physical card to each marketing team member who has on-the-go expenses for travel, conferences, or client meetings. Float offers unlimited physical cards to Professional plan members, and with the ability to set card limits and apply automated expense policies, there’s no reason to hold out.
Cardholders are automatically reminded to easily send Float receipts and assign pre-defined GL codes as soon as the purchase is made, eliminating month end expense reports and reconciliations.
4. Track spending in real time without any guesswork ✅
Managing corporate spending closely is on everyone’s minds right now. If your finance team doesn’t have a smart solution in place, it’s likely taking over their 9-5. 🤯 Using Float, marketing leaders can log into the platform at any time and monitor their team’s spending in real time. Expenses like Google ads, travel costs and even miscellaneous expenses like morning coffee and lunch are all visible and categorized by vendors too! Gone are the days of asking for budget updates over Slack and tracking spend through a spreadsheet. Float makes everything available for you right on the dashboard. No guesswork, no errors and no stress! 👍🏼
Managers can also assign auto-tags to clearly define each employee’s role and spending authority. As for the finance team, Float grants them full visibility over what every department is spending, what they’re purchasing and whether their budgets need to be increased.
5. Collect and manage receipts in a flash – literally. 📸
With so many transactions being made, marketing teams typically generate a ton of receipts. Float makes it easy to stay on top of those receipts through our SMS receipt upload and email receipt feature. Spenders can simply snap a picture of their receipt and upload it into the platform immediately after a transaction! And if they don’t, managers have the option to send out automated reminders until a receipt is submitted. No more chasing employees down! 🏃🏻♂️ Float also provides the option to tag expenses by vendor or category and add additional notes to every receipt submission so that managers know exactly what the purchase was for.
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Float is Canada’s only all-in-one corporate cards, reimbursements, and bill pay platform that helps customers:
Earn cashback on all categories of spend and save on FX
Generate 4% interest on funds held with Float
Eliminate expense reports and receipt chasing
Close the books 5x faster at the month-end
Want to learn how companies like Clutch, Neo, Knix, and 1,000s of other Canadian businesses on average save 7% of their monthly spend with Float? Get started with Float today by clicking the button below!
Today we released new data that shows companies are struggling with managing corporate spend, particularly with the shift to a remote or hybrid workforce. The survey, conducted among business decision makers on the Angus Reid Forum, reveals the negative impacts of inefficient spend management on company security, workforce productivity and employee happiness — which are of increasing concern as businesses navigate the uncertain economic climate.
Key survey highlights include:
61 per cent of businesses who have most or all employees working remotely express that expense reporting is one of the most tedious jobs in their organization
More than half (51%) at these companies agree that time spent reporting expenses negatively impacts their ability to accomplish work
49 per cent of businesses where most or all employees work remotely share company credit card across multiple employees, and among this group, 63 per cent share card details over Slack or email, more than three times the proportion of businesses with only some employees working remotely (18%)
Seven-in-ten (71%) businesses report that their employees incur company expenses on personal credit cards, increasing to 80 per cent for businesses with remote employees
Shift to remote work has created new pain points for employees and HR leaders
The pandemic was an unexpected push to remote work that created operational challenges as businesses moved quickly to adapt. Even in a post-COVID world, the strain on employees and HR leaders lingers as companies settle permanently into hybrid and flexible working arrangements. Four-in-five (80%) businesses with remote employees have staff who incur company expenses on their personal credit cards, and 45 per cent report that employees are incurring more company expenses personally for reimbursement since shifting to remote work. With inflation and the cost of living rising, this is a significant financial burden for many Canadians.
For HR leaders, maintaining existing benefits such as team building activities and socials, as well as managing new employee benefits brought on by remote work arrangements, has resulted in difficulties with expense tracking. Over half (54%) of businesses working primarily remotely report an increase in funds or stipends distributed to employees, and half (51%) of businesses who had most or all of their employees shift to remote work said that it has made receipt tracking more complicated. On both ends, more than half (53%) at these companies agree that expense reporting is a major pain point for employees, and 51 per cent agree that time spent reporting expenses negatively impacts their ability to accomplish work. As remote or hybrid work becomes the norm, these challenges will only become more prevalent unless businesses adapt new processes and technology to streamline spend management.
Concerns for corporate spend management in a tough economic climate
As recession fears grow in Canada, business leaders are increasingly focused on maximizing productivity and finding cost-saving opportunities. The survey found an operational bottleneck amongst many Canadian businesses to be their manual expense tracking, which directly impacts productivity. 82 per cent of businesses spend at least a day to close their books at month-end, and among businesses whose workforce shifted to remote work during the pandemic, two-in-five spend at least four days on the task. This is significant as almost three-in-four (74%) businesses agree that they could spend less time closing their books at month’s end.
The ripple effect of heavy manual expense tracking is that it leaves businesses unable to scale up without increasing overhead. Currently, the most time-consuming expense reporting tasks for companies that have shifted to remote work are: ensuring expenses are accurate (64%), fixing human errors (56%), tracking down employees for receipts (56%) and manually reconciling and entering data (55%). These are pain points that will become larger as a company grows, limiting Canadian businesses’ ability to shift as needed during a volatile economic period.
Additional findings include:
Almost half (48%) of businesses with most or all employees shifting to remote work are seeing increased paperwork from expense reporting
30 per cent of businesses who have most or all of their employees working remotely use 6 or more different finance software and tools for accounting-related work
More than two-in-five (44%) businesses with primarily remote employees plan to purchase new software for finance and accounting-related work in the coming year
Methodology: These are the findings of a survey conducted by Float from May 26-30, 2022 among a nationally representative sample of 427 Canadian finance decision makers at companies with 15-300 employees. All respondents were members of the online Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would yield a margin or error of +/- 4.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The survey was offered in both English and French.
In today’s competitive business landscape, finding ways to cut costs without sacrificing quality is crucial. One often overlooked tool for business savings is a corporate card solution. Let’s explore five easy ways your company can leverage this financial tool to boost your bottom line.
1. Streamline Expense Management for Significant Business Savings
Traditional expense management can be a drain on resources. A corporate card solution automates this process, leading to substantial business savings:
Reduce time spent on manual expense reports
Minimize errors in expense tracking
Lower administrative costs associated with reimbursements
By streamlining expense management, businesses can save up to 55% on processing costs per expense report, according to a study by PayStream Advisors.
2. Capitalize on Cashback and Rewards Programs
Many corporate card solutions offer cashback or rewards programs, providing an easy way to generate business savings:
Earn cashback on everyday business expenses
Accumulate travel points for business trips
Redeem rewards for office supplies or equipment
For example, if your business spends $10,000 monthly on a card offering 1.5% cashback, you could save $1,800 annually – a significant boost to your business savings.
3. Leverage Spending Controls for Better Budgeting
Corporate cards allow you to set spending limits and restrictions, helping to enforce your budget and increase business savings:
Set monthly spending caps for different departments
Restrict purchases to specific merchant categories
Prevent unauthorized expenses
These controls can lead to a 10-15% reduction in overall company spend, according to a report by the Aberdeen Group.
4. Gain Visibility for Strategic Business Savings
Corporate card solutions provide real-time spending data, allowing for more informed financial decisions:
Identify areas of overspending quickly
Negotiate better rates with frequently used vendors
Adjust budgets based on actual spending patterns
This increased visibility can help businesses save up to 23% on travel and entertainment expenses alone, as reported by American Express.
5. Eliminate Foreign Transaction Fees for International Business Savings
For companies doing business globally, a corporate card solution can offer significant savings on international transactions:
Avoid foreign transaction fees, which can be up to 3% per transaction
Get better exchange rates compared to local currency conversions
Simplify reconciliation of international expenses
These savings can add up quickly for businesses with frequent international transactions, contributing to overall business savings.
Maximizing Your Business Savings with the Right Corporate Card Solution
To fully realize these business savings, consider the following when choosing a corporate card solution:
Look for High Rewards Rates: Choose a card that offers competitive cashback or points on your most common expenses.
Evaluate Fee Structures: Opt for cards with low or no annual fees to maximize your business savings.
Consider Integration Capabilities: Select a solution that integrates with your existing accounting software for seamless expense management.
Assess Spending Control Features: Ensure the card offers robust controls to help enforce your expense policies.
Check International Benefits: If you do business abroad, prioritize cards with favorable international transaction terms.
Here are five ways Float can help your business save money
1️⃣ No surprise fees
When you spend with Float, you won’t have any surprises – there are no foreign transaction fees, and no hidden monthly fees. Additionally, you can issue unlimited virtual cards as needed… without additional charges. What does this mean? The only charges you’ll see each month are the expenses incurred by your business – no additional fees, and no surprises.
2️⃣ 1% Cashback & 4% Interest on Deposits
It’s true! For each purchase you make with your Float physical and virtual corporate cards, you’ll get one percent cash back. Depending on your team’s monthly spend, this adds up to significant savings. Some Float customers regularly receive tens of thousands of dollars in cash back – with no strings attached – deposited into your Float account monthly.
3️⃣ Spend controls that are easy to implement
While Float allows you to issue unlimited physical and virtual corporate cards, you’re able to limit the spend on each individual card – providing you a level of proactive control over your organization’s spend that traditional corporate cards don’t offer.
4️⃣ Track real-time spend by vendor
Tracking vendor spending is a tedious process of waiting for invoices, processing payments, and logging the transactions. It’s asynchronous, and doesn’t offer a real-time view into what your suppliers are spending.
Since you control the spend limit on each card, you can set up your vendors with a virtual corporate card with a spend limit in line with their typical monthly spend. This also allows you to track their spending, and increase or decrease their spend limits in real time as needed. This not only ensures that vendor payments are happening on time and on budget – meaning you won’t be overcharged – saving you time and money.
5️⃣ Set approval structures
Still need peace of mind? Float customers are able to set up multiple expense approval processes to ensure that even if a vendor or employee needs a credit top-up, spend is still monitored, and can be approved on the fly… even via Slack.
💰 Bonus! Earn up to $150k in special offers from Float partners
Becoming a Float customer is simple. Applications take just five minutes online, and you can be approved in a few days. Compared to a traditional approval timeline of four to six weeks for traditional credit cards, it’s not just a financial savings – it’s a time savings. Plus, Float’s perks program provides some pretty sweet bonuses… adding up to $150k in additional savings for your company.
Here are just a few:
Intercom offers a FREE first year, a 50% discount in your second year, and an ongoing 20% discount as long – a value of $61k USD
Amazon Web Services provides $25k USD in AWS Activate Credits along with a year of AWS Business Support – a value of $5k USD
Hubspot is offering 30% off a subscription for the first year, and 15% each subsequent year – a savings of up to $35k USD
With this many opportunities to save, what’s stopping you from booking a demo?
Conclusion: Boost Your Business Savings with Smart Corporate Card Use
Implementing a corporate card solution can be a game-changer for your business savings strategy. By streamlining processes, capitalizing on rewards, enforcing budgets, gaining spending insights, and reducing international fees, you can significantly cut costs and improve your financial health.
Remember, the key to maximizing business savings with a corporate card is choosing the right solution for your specific needs and using it strategically. With the right approach, your corporate card can become a powerful tool in your arsenal for financial optimization and business growth.
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Float is Canada’s only all-in-one corporate cards, reimbursements, and bill pay platform that helps customers:
Earn cashback on all categories of spend and save on FX
Generate 4% interest on funds held with Float
Eliminate expense reports and receipt chasing
Close the books 5x faster at the month-end
Want to learn how companies like Clutch, Neo, Knix, and 1,000s of other Canadian businesses on average save 7% of their monthly spend with Float? Get started with Float today by clicking the button below!
