Procurement Cards vs. Corporate Cards: Which is Right for Your Business?

A procurement card and corporate card are often confused with one another, but they serve different purposes in your financial management toolkit. If you’re scaling operations, tightening controls or modernizing how your company spends, knowing the difference is critical.

In this article, we’ll break down how procurement cards and corporate cards work, where each one shines and how Float offers the flexibility to do both without the tradeoffs.

What is a procurement card?

Also known as a p-card, a procurement card is a company-issued card used for lower-value, frequent purchases from vendors. It simplifies buying by removing the need for purchase orders, cheques or petty cash. 

Instead of routing every purchase through traditional procurement workflows, approved employees can use p-cards to quickly buy items like office supplies, subscriptions or emergency materials. Typically, any vendor that accepts credit cards can accept p-cards. 

Common p-card use cases

P-cards are best used for frequent, lower-value transactions that don’t require a full procurement process. 

Typical scenarios include: 

• Office supplies and equipment
• SaaS or digital tools
• Facility maintenance or repairs
• Emergency or ad hoc purchases
• Recurring vendor payments

Procurement card advantages

The biggest strength of a procurement card is control. It helps finance teams manage spend while empowering employees to get what they need quickly. 

Here are some key benefits: 

• Simplified procurement workflows
• Lower transaction and processing costs
• Real-time spend control
• Cleaner audit trails and expense data
• Immediate vendor payment
• Reduces use of petty cash and reimbursements 

P-cards decentralize small, operational spending in a way that’s fast and controlled, but they aren’t ideal for every scenario.

What is a corporate card?

Corporate cards are designed for broader employee spending, especially for travel and entertainment. These cards are issued to individuals or departments to cover work-related expenses without dipping into personal funds and filing expense reports for reimbursement. 

Common corporate card uses 

Corporate cards shine when employees need flexibility to spend across a wide range of business needs, not just from pre-approved vendors. 

Typical uses include: 

• Flights, hotels and meals
• Client entertainment
• Team offsites
• Online subscriptions
• Day-to-day business purchase

Want to take a closer look at how these cards work in Canada? Read our comprehensive guide to corporate credit cards.

Corporate card benefits

Corporate cards offer flexibility and perks that make them a great fit for growing teams with varied spending needs.

Key benefits include:

• Flexibility across spend types
• Cashback rewards and interest on deposits
• Real-time tracking and policy enforcement
• Automated expense reporting 
• Integrates with accounting tools
• Builds business credit

Because they’re not vendor-restricted, corporate cards are ideal for fast-moving teams and growing companies, but they can lead to overspending without proper controls.

P-card vs. corporate card: Side-by-side breakdown

Criteria	Procurement Card (P-card)	Corporate Card
Primary use	Vendor-specific procurement	Travel, entertainment, team expenses
Spend control	Pre-set vendor lists and category limits	General limits per user, team or department
Approval flow	Pre-approvals tied to procurement workflows	Post-purchase reporting and manager reviews
Reporting	Vendor-level detail, ERP integration	Category-based reporting, ERP integration
Risks	Misuse with unauthorized vendors	Overspending, unclear policy enforcement

Pros and cons at a glance

Not sure which card best suits your needs? Here’s a quick summary of the strengths and trade-offs of procurement cards and corporate cards to help you compare. 

Procurement cards

Procurement cards are ideal for controlled, repeatable purchases from known vendors.  Just keep in mind they work best with clearly defined use cases and vendor lists.

Pros:

• Strong pre-spend controls
• Cuts down on invoice and cheque volume
• Ideal for decentralizing approved vendor spend
• Enforces budget and category restrictions

Cons:

• Limited use outside vendor purchases
• Requires employee training and policy clarity
• Reconciliation can get messy if not automated

Corporate cards

Corporate cards enable autonomy across departments but need strong oversight to avoid overspending or policy drift.

Pros:

• Broadly usable for all types of business spend
• Perks like cashback, insurance and interest rewards
• Supports travel-heavy or fast-moving teams

Cons:

• Greater risk of misuse without pre-approvals
• Personal liability may apply depending on the card
• Often carries annual fees

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Worried about risk? Check out the best strategies to prevent corporate card misuse.

How to choose the right card for your business

To choose the best card option, ask yourself a few key questions:

1. What kind of spend are you trying to control?

If it’s mostly vendor-specific, a procurement card might be your best bet. If it’s broader employee or travel-related expenses, lean toward corporate cards.

2. What are your expense types and volumes?

High-frequency, small purchases? P-cards. Large travel or project-based expenses? Corporate cards.

3. Who needs access?

Are these ops team members buying supplies, or executives managing their own travel?

4. Do you need more control or more flexibility?

Procurement cards offer strict rules and approvals. Corporate cards offer flexibility, but often at the cost of tighter post-spend reconciliation.

5. Does the card integrate with your finance tools?

Look for financial management solutions that fit your existing workflows and scale as your team grows.

6. What’s the ROI on perks?

Are you earning meaningful cashback? Is the interest return worth it?

Need help setting policies and controls? Download our free expense policy template to get started. 

Tips for running a successful procurement card program

Whether you go with procurement cards, corporate cards or both—how you manage them makes the biggest difference. Here’s how to set yourself up for success:

Set clear policies and card limits upfront

Reduce confusion and prevent overspending with solid guidelines from the start.

Automate approvals and expense tracking

Manual tracking slows everyone down. Use tools that support real-time monitoring.

Train employees and run audits regularly

New employees need onboarding. Regular users need reminders.

Choose scalable financial tools

Don’t get stuck with card programs that can’t grow with you. Learn more about Float’s corporate card platform.

What if you want the best of both? 

Here’s the reality: most companies need both control and flexibility. That’s why Float was built to deliver the best of procurement cards and corporate cards in one powerful platform. 

With Float, you can:

• Issue cards to employees, vendors or departments
• Set pre-approved budgets and category limits
• Auto-reconcile with your accounting software
• Tracking spending in real time
• Earn cashback and earn interest on deposits

Whether it’s managing office supplies or enabling seamless travel, Float makes it easy to stay on budget without slowing anyone down.

Match the tool to the task

Both procurement cards and corporate cards serve a purpose. The key is knowing which to use and when. 

If you’re stuck between control and flexibility, Float helps you avoid the tradeoff. Issue procurement cards with built-in workflows, or roll out team cards with real-time oversight—all from one platform designed for Canadian businesses. 

Ready to modernize your company’s card program? Explore how Float works.

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