Managing Industry-Specific Expenses with Digital Cards

~7min reading time – 24 July 2024

Tired of wrestling with industry-specific expenses? You're not alone. Misplaced receipts, endless spreadsheets, and the constant battle to stay on-budget are common frustrations for Irish businesses in all industries. Research shows that companies waste an average of €500,000 annually correcting expense report errors, and manual expense management processes consume a staggering 3,000 hours.

But what if you could cut through the chaos and gain control over your expenses? Digital cards are a powerful solution that addresses these challenges head-on. Beyond being a replacement for traditional company cards, digital cards give finance teams and business owners control, visibility, and efficiency.

In this article, we'll discuss the unique challenges faced by four key Irish industries: travel, construction, events, and hospitality, and explore how digital cards streamline financial processes, reduce costs, and optimise budget.

Travel

Managing expenses in the Irish travel sector can be a logistical labyrinth. One of the most pressing challenges is navigating airline restrictions imposed on corporate credit cards, especially for group bookings or last-minute changes. These restrictions can lead to failed transactions, frustrating delays, and additional fees.

Managing expenses for multiple customers and trips simultaneously adds another layer of complexity. Keeping track of various itineraries, reconciling receipts from diverse vendors (hotels, car rentals, tours, etc.), and processing reimbursements for multiple travellers can quickly overwhelm traditional travel expense management tools.

The need for accurate and timely expense reporting further complicates the process, especially with the added pressure of complying with Ireland's Revenue Reporting Requirements.

Digital cards can make the journey less turbulent when carrying out financial operations in the travel industry, particularly when avoiding annoying airline restrictions like Ryanair's 2% credit card fee.

Events

From securing venues and booking entertainment to coordinating catering and managing on-site logistics, the sheer number of moving parts can make budgeting and expense tracking in the events industry extremely difficult.

Tight deadlines, unexpected costs, and the need to juggle payments to multiple vendors can easily throw your budget off course. Traditional events expense management methods that rely on paper receipts and manual reconciliation often struggle to keep up with the fast-paced nature of events, leading to delayed reimbursements, budget overruns, and a lack of real-time financial visibility.

To tackle these hurdles, issue your team with digital cards with spending limits for venue rentals, A/V equipment, décor, or catering. Each team member can then make authorised purchases directly, eliminating the need for petty cash and lengthy reimbursements. It also ensures timely payments and helps develop stronger relationships with your vendors, as they can rely on prompt and accurate compensation.

Construction

Construction projects involve vendors, subcontractors, and on-site workers, so efficient management of payments and expense tracking is imperative. The sheer volume of transactions, ranging from large material purchases to small on-site expenses, can seriously overwhelm traditional construction expense management systems.

Additionally, cash advances and reimbursements are common in the construction industry, but these are prone to errors, delays, and potential fraud. Keeping track of who spent what, where, and when can become a daunting task, especially across multiple projects with different teams and budgets.

Digital cards offer a solid foundation for expense management in the construction industry.

Here’s how:

Equipping on-site workers with digital cards eliminates the need for cash advances and time-consuming reimbursements.
Workers can make authorised purchases quickly and directly, whether refuelling a company vehicle, buying tools at a local hardware store, or ordering lunch for the crew.
Spending limits can be set for each worker to ensure responsible spending and prevent budget surprises.
Real-time expense tracking and reporting lets you see spending by project, category, vendor, and individual worker. These insights allow project managers to negotiate better deals with suppliers, optimise procurement processes, and make data-driven informed decisions to improve the financial performance of future construction projects.

Hospitality

The Irish hospitality sector faces a complex financial balancing act from monitoring departmental budgets and controlling inventory costs to managing employee expenses and maintaining financial oversight across multiple locations.

By leaving behind old-fashioned finance processes and implementing a digital-first approach with CleverCards, you can enable staff members to make on-the-spot purchases of guest amenities, room service items, or urgent maintenance supplies, removing the need for petty cash and reimbursement processes.

The ability to set spending limits and category restrictions (e.g., only for F&B purchases, room supplies, or maintenance) ensures that spending aligns with departmental budgets, prevents unauthorised purchases, and maintains financial control across your entire operation.

Additionally, for businesses with multiple hotels, restaurants, or properties, digital cards offer consolidated reporting that aggregates expense data across all locations. Access to this simplified financial analysis allows for comparing performance between locations and helps pinpoint opportunities for cost optimisation across the entire business.

Ready to Upgrade Your Expense Management Processes?

With CleverCards, you can upgrade your expense management from a source of frustration into a strategic advantage. By addressing the unique challenges of key Irish industries, CleverCards enables finance managers and business owners to gain control over incoming and outgoing finances, use real-time valuable insights to optimise budgets, and set spending limits to avoid any surprises.

For more information, contact the CleverCards team by filling out the enquiry form below. We look forward to hearing from you soon!