Corporate cards are company-issued cards that empower your team to make necessary business purchases while keeping company spending neatly separated from personal expenses.
An expense approval workflow is the set of rules and steps you establish to review and authorize employee spending, ensuring every dollar aligns with your budget and policies.
Rho integrates corporate cards directly with a dynamic expense approval workflow, allowing you to set custom spending limits, issue cards, and monitor cash flow in real-time, which streamlines your entire expense report approval workflow and connects with tools like QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Xero.
Corporate cards with an expense approval workflow are company cards governed by automated rules, helping you control spending and enforce policy automatically. This guide will walk you through the key factors to consider when choosing a corporate card platform for your business.
We'll cover essential evaluation criteria, including fees, spend controls, card issuance speed, rewards, and accounting integrations. You'll also see how our platform addresses each of these areas and learn how you can get started with Rho.
What are approval workflows for corporate cards?
In the context of corporate cards, expense approvals are the process of reviewing and authorizing business spending to ensure it aligns with company policy. An effective expense approval workflow automates this process, routing transactions to the correct approvers based on rules you set.
These rules can be customized by team, spending amount, or other criteria, ensuring the right person reviews each expense without creating bottlenecks. This gives you real-time control over your company's cash flow and helps manage burn, which is vital when you're preparing for your next funding round.
This automated system is a significant improvement over a manual NetSuite expense report approval workflow, as it checks transactions against policy at the moment of purchase, not weeks later.
Key features of corporate cards with expense approvals & workflows
- Customizable spending rules by budget, amount, or merchant
- Multi-level approval flows that route expenses to the right person
- Real-time policy checks that instantly flag out-of-policy transactions
- Automated receipt and memo submission prompts for employees
Streamline expense approvals and workflows with Rho Expense Management
If you're looking for corporate cards with a robust expense approval workflow, our Rho Expense Management platform is designed to give you complete control. It integrates directly with our corporate cards to automate policy enforcement from the moment of purchase.
This approach saves your finance team valuable time and gives you real-time clarity over spending.
Here is what that includes:
- Our system enforces your spending policy at the point of transaction, instantly flagging any out-of-policy purchases. This is a major shift from a traditional Concur expense approval workflow, where violations are often caught weeks later.
- Employees receive real-time prompts to submit receipts and memos right after a purchase, which means your finance team doesn't have to chase down documentation.
- You can build multi-level approval flows by team or transaction amount, ensuring expenses are automatically routed to the right person for review without slowing down operations.
Beyond card controls, the platform also automates expense coding and syncs transactions directly to your general ledger. It even handles reimbursements for out-of-pocket and mileage expenses.
Tips to choose the best corporate cards with expense approval workflows
Choosing the right corporate card platform is about more than just the card itself. It's about finding a system that automates financial busywork and gives you a clear view of your company's spending.
Prioritize a unified platform that combines corporate cards, expense management, and banking for a single, real-time view of your cash flow.
Look for real-time policy enforcement that prevents out-of-policy spend, unlike a manual Zoho expense approval workflow that only catches it later.
Verify that the platform integrates with your accounting software, such as QuickBooks, NetSuite, or Xero, to automate reconciliation.
Evaluate the fee structure and rewards, prioritizing platforms with no annual fees and valuable cashback on your spend, like our up to 1.5% cashback offer.
Choose a platform that offers dedicated support and can scale with your company as you grow.
How to set corporate card approvals with Rho Expense Management
Setting up your corporate card approvals in Rho is straightforward. Our platform allows you to create a flexible expense approval workflow that automates policy enforcement and gives you real-time control over spending.
Here’s how you can configure your approval workflows:
- Create custom expense rules based on budget, amount, or merchant to automatically require receipts or notes for defined transactions.
- Set up direct manager approvals to automatically route employee expenses up their management chain for review.
- Combine rules with dollar-amount tiers to build multi-level approval flows, ensuring larger expenses get the right oversight without slowing down operations.
- Apply these automated workflows to both Rho Card transactions and out-of-pocket reimbursements for consistent policy enforcement across all company spending.
FAQs about approval workflows for corporate cards
How much does Rho’s expense management capability cost?
Our expense management tools are free for all Rho customers. There are no platform usage fees or per-user charges, so you can give your entire team access to the tools they need to manage spending effectively.
Can employees code their own expenses?
Yes, you can grant employees custom permissions to code their own expenses. For more control, you can customize the accounting attributes they see, pulling them directly from your integrated accounting platform like QuickBooks, NetSuite, or Xero.
What happens if an employee needs to spend more than their limit?
Employees can request a spend limit increase directly within the Rho app. These requests are routed through your established approval workflows, ensuring you maintain oversight while giving your team the flexibility it needs to operate.
Does Rho have a mobile app for managing expenses?
Yes, we offer a mobile app for both iOS and Android. It allows your team members to upload receipts and label transactions on the go, while admins can manage expenses and approvals from anywhere.
How are out-of-pocket expenses handled?
Our platform supports reimbursements for out-of-pocket spending, including mileage. These submissions follow the same automated approval workflows as card transactions and can be paid directly from your Rho business bank account.
How does the expense report approval workflow integrate with our accounting software?
Our accounting integrations are designed to close your books faster. We can automatically code and sync transactions with platforms like QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Xero. For other systems, we provide detailed CSV reports for quick reconciliation.
What kind of support is available if we need help?
Our client service team is available to help you set up your workflows and answer any questions. You can find articles in our Help Center or contact our support team directly via phone, email, or SMS.
Get started with Rho Expense Management today
By automating your expense management, you gain the financial clarity and control needed to impress investors and scale your business. Let us handle the busywork so you can focus on growth.
Sign up here today.