How to write your corporate credit card policy: best practices and template

Published

Apr 4, 2025

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Unauthorized charges? Missing receipts? Credit card statements with eye-watering totals? If any of these sound familiar, it may be time to revisit your corporate credit card policy. Designed to simplify the process of tracking and managing employee spend, corporate credit cards and their cousins, corporate charge cards, can quickly spiral out of control in the absence of firm boundaries.

In this article, we dig into effective corporate credit card management and walk through the process of rolling a policy out to your team. Ready to protect your finances and simplify expense management? Let’s go.

What is a corporate credit card policy?

A corporate credit card policy sets out the rules and expectations around employee corporate card usage. It works primarily to establish accountability and prevent misuse of company funds by providing clear guidelines for allowable expenses, spending limits, and reporting requirements.

Defining these parameters helps companies maintain financial control and encourages compliance with organizational standards. It also protects your business from overspending and fraud while simplifying the overall expense management process for both employees and your finance department.

The importance of corporate credit card policies

Prevents misuse of company funds

Clear guidelines for credit card use protect your business against misuse and fraud. By defining acceptable business expenses and establishing clear consequences for violations, you reduce the risk of expensive mistakes by confused employees.

Streamlines expense management

A corporate credit card policy can simplify expense reporting by giving financial managers or controllers a straightforward structure for expense tracking. This can improve budgeting and speed up the reconciliation process.

Enhances accountability

Outlining employee responsibilities and implementing regular compliance checks can foster a culture of trust and accountability. Teams understand and appreciate their role in maintaining financial control, which can lead to stronger adherence to the policy.

How to write a company credit card policy: 4 key elements

1. Eligibility

Define who qualifies for a corporate credit card or corporate card based on their role or department and the business’ needs. Outline the process for issuing cards, including who needs to sign off and any documents employees should provide or complete before receiving their cards.

2. Approved expenses

Clearly outline the types of business expenses employees can charge, such as travel, meals, office supplies, or client entertainment. Provide examples of prohibited purchases to avoid confusion and address how employees should handle potential exceptions.

3. Spending limits and restrictions

Set limits on how much employees can charge based on criteria like role, location, and business needs. In addition to an overall spending cap, you may also want to establish maximum amounts for certain expense categories or define a daily transaction limit to reduce the risk of overspending.

4. Reporting and documentation requirements

List the documents employees must submit as a condition of continuing to use the card, such as itemized receipts or detailed expense reports. Include deadlines for providing these documents to your finance department and emphasize the importance of documenting the business purpose for each purpose.

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How to implement a corporate credit card policy: 3 steps

Once you’ve established the framework, it’s time to get to work drafting, sharing, and implementing your corporate credit card policy. Not sure where to start? The steps below outline key actions to create, communicate, and enforce guidelines that align with your business’ goals.

Step 1. Develop and approve the policy with stakeholder input

Start by drafting a clear, easy-to-understand policy governing corporate credit card use based on input from employees, line managers, finance managers, and compliance officers.

Your policy should cover all aspects of the corporate credit card program and address key questions like:

Will you enforce a corporate credit card limit, or can employees charge as much as needed within guidelines?
What types of expenses are allowable, and how will you handle exceptions?
Do employees need to request approval before making a purchase? Who has the authority to authorize transitions or adjust credit limits?

Step 2. Communicate the policy to employees

Share your final policy widely and well in advance of distributing corporate credit cards to your employees. If the majority of your new users have never had access to a company card before, consider requiring that they complete an in-person or online training module as a condition of receiving one. Encourage questions throughout the rollout process to ensure that employees fully understand their responsibilities and the potential consequences of common pitfalls, like failure to report a transaction or using the company card for personal expenses.

Step 3. Enforce compliance through regular audits.

Conduct regular audits of your financial records, including expense reports, credit card statements, and tax filings. In the event that you come across an anomaly, address it immediately with the employee or department responsible to understand what happened and work towards a resolution. Demonstrating a willingness to act quickly in the face of even small discrepancies can serve as a powerful fraud deterrent to the rare bad actor.

Company credit card policy best practices

How you develop and implement your corporate credit card policy will vary based on your employees’ spending needs, your company culture, and, of course, your budget. Hard spending limits might work for some companies, but lead to headaches and frustration for others. Regardless of the particulars, the best practices below can help set your teams up for success as you roll out these new expense management tools.

1. Monitor card usage regularly to identify discrepancies

Finance managers should regularly review credit card statements and transaction records for unauthorized charges or spending that exceeds company limits. Timely monitoring can nip potential problems in the bud, before they rise to the level of fraud, and helps maintain compliance by establishing that the company keeps close tabs on how employees use their cards.

2. Use expense management tools to simplify tracking and reporting

Expense and spend management software can be a powerful ally in enforcing your corporate credit card policy. Many tools offer features like standardized expense reporting and automatic flags for out-of-policy purchases. Others support automatic receipt scanning and real-time reconciliation to help employees capture their purchases and monitor their own spend proactively.

3. Address violations promptly and consistently

Consistently enforcing your policy shows employees that you’re committed to maintaining accountability when it comes to company spending. The specific consequences may vary—employees may inadvertently misuse their cards due to not knowing or understanding the guidelines—but it’s important to address even minor rule breaks as soon as you notice them to reinforce expectations and deter future non-compliance.

Corporate credit card policy template

Your corporate credit card policy serves as an agreement between you and your employees and sets the boundaries for acceptable use.

The template below offers some ideas on how to structure your corporate credit card policy, with guidelines around employee responsibilities and clear procedures governing corporate credit card use to encourage accountability. Disclaimer: This template is provided for information purposes and should not be interpreted as legal advice. Consult with a lawyer or HR expert for specific guidance around regulations in your jurisdiction.

[Your Company Name] Company Credit Card Policy

Purpose and Scope: This policy applies to all employees who have been issued a corporate credit card. It sets forth the guidelines and responsibilities associated with the use of company-issued credit cards, including the types of allowable expenses, spending limits, and procedures for reporting and documentation.

Policy:

Eligibility

Corporate credit cards are issued based on the employee's role or department and the business needs. Eligibility is determined by management and requires approval from the finance department. Employees must complete the necessary documentation and training before receiving a card.

Approved Expenses

Corporate credit cards are intended for business-related expenses only. Allowable expenses include travel, meals, office supplies, and client entertainment. Employees are prohibited from using corporate cards for personal purchases. Any exceptions must be pre-approved by management.

Spending Limits and Restrictions

Spending limits are established based on criteria such as the employee's role, location, and business needs. These include an overall monthly spending cap and potential category-specific limits. Employees must adhere to these limits, and any requests for adjustments require management approval.

Reporting and Documentation Requirements

Employees must submit itemized receipts and detailed expense reports as a condition of continuing to use the corporate card. Reports should include the business purpose of each expense and must be submitted to the finance department by the specified deadline.

Compliance and Audits

Regular audits of financial records, including expense reports and credit card statements, will be conducted to ensure compliance. Any discrepancies or unauthorized charges will be addressed promptly with the responsible employee or department.

Violations and Consequences

Any misuse of the corporate credit card, whether intentional or due to negligence, will result in disciplinary action. This may include revocation of card privileges, reimbursement of unauthorized expenses, or further disciplinary measures in accordance with company policy.

Policy Review and Updates

This policy will be reviewed annually and updated as necessary to reflect changes in company operations or financial management practices.

Corporate credit card vs. Corporate charge card

Corporate credit cards and corporate charge cards differ primarily in their payment terms. Corporate credit cards can carry revolving balances, while corporate charge cards must be paid off in full each month.

Typically, businesses find corporate charge cards more practical, as they make overspending difficult and can’t rack up interest charges. If your company prioritizes financial control and uncomplicated budgeting, corporate charge cards can offer a cost-effective solution.

Centralize and enforce your policy with Rippling’s Corporate Charge Cards

Most corporate cards are siloed from the rest of a company’s employee data. With Rippling Corporate Cards, you can unify employee and spend data, allowing you to create hyper-custom card policies and automate control over how, when, and where employees can spend. By connecting corporate card usage directly with employee data, Rippling gives you precise control over spending and policy enforcement, leading to better financial oversight with less administrative work. Enforce spend exactly the way you want—automatically.

By integrating with the rest of your workforce management processes, Rippling Corporate Cards can offer automations that save significant time on tedious administrative work. For instance, you can automatically issue cards during onboarding and revoke them during offboarding, tee up hyper-customized policies that block purchases before managers lose hours poring through an expense report during reconciliation, and more.

With Rippling you can:

Issue corporate cards in the blink of an eye. Issue corporate cards to your team, control their spending, and reconcile expenses with nearly zero effort.
Create unique card groups. Use employee attributes that no other system has—like level, department, and work location—to automate card-issuing.
Apply custom policies. Choose which of your business’s spend policies apply to each card group for an unparalleled degree of control.
Instantly enforce policies. Leverage your employee data to quickly build hundreds of granular policies that enforce card spend exactly the way you would.

Corporate credit card policy FAQs

How often should a corporate credit card policy be reviewed and updated?

Ideally, financial managers and other controllers should review the company corporate credit card policy at least once a year. Changes in business needs, new regulations, or emerging fraud risks might also prompt another look. The finance department might also identify necessary adjustments as part of the credit card statement review and expense management process.

What should be the consequences of violating the corporate credit card policy?

Consequences of violating a corporate credit card policy vary and are unique to each business and jurisdiction, but can generally range from warnings to termination, depending on the nature of the infraction. Finance managers should ensure that employees understand the guidelines around corporate card use and regularly communicate any updates to spend policies. Proactive measures like these can prevent misuse, like personal spending or overspending.

How does a corporate credit card work?

Employees use a corporate credit card to charge business expenses directly to the company’s account, eliminating the need for reimbursements. The company assigns credit limits to cardholders and sets policies around acceptable card use, including submitting receipts and expense reports. The finance department typically reviews these supporting documents for accuracy and compliance. Corporate credit cards can simplify expense management by allowing companies to exercise a higher degree of oversight and control over employee spending.

How can finance managers monitor compliance with the policy?

Finance managers can monitor compliance with a corporate card policy by tracking business expenses, enforcing proper expense reporting, and reviewing corporate credit card statements. Financial management software can also help compliance professionals spot out-of-policy spending and prevent misuse.

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