Industry Insights

A First-Class Ticket to Managing Corporate Travel Expenses

Managing travel expenses is not exactly a “vacation.” In fact, if finance teams are doing things the manual way, the entire department may need a real getaway to recover from it all.

January 18, 2022


Most people can agree that getting a handle on travel expenses without a good system in place can feel like walking in the dark with no flashlight. The good news is that Float has a first-class ticket for any organization to successfully manage corporate travel expenses, providing simple solutions to these common headaches. 🙌🏼

❌  Unclear and inconsistent travel expense policies 🤷🏼‍♂️

✅  Float helps you create simple financial policies for the entire company 👫👫

More often than not, expense policies for travel are not always clear. When employees don’t know what falls under an acceptable travel purchase, they have no way of avoiding issues when it comes time to submit expenses. Ensuring employees are aligned can make the paper trail a lot more smooth for finance teams. At Float, our software allows managers to create clear spending policies company-wide so employees are aligned on expectations before and during travel. Managers can also set category limits that every employee can understand and abide by to avoid exceeding travel budgets.

❌  Poor visibility over travel spending across the company 😧

✅  Float gives you a clear picture of travel spending 🔎

Does your finance team know the average daily cost of employee meals during business travels? 🥗  What about the average cost of transportation? 🚕  Most companies don’t have this information at their disposal and are often shooting in the dark when it comes to budgeting for business trips. They have no way of measuring or anticipating how much an employee is going to spend and thus are unable to set clear limits to stay on budget. 

With Float, finance teams can see all transactions being made in real time while employees are travelling ​​– providing key insights into the average costs of food, transportation, lodging and other business travel expenses. This real-time data is critical in helping finance teams and managers set department budgets for business travel in the future with appropriate spending limits for each category.

❌  Inefficient and time-consuming processes 👎🏼

✅  Float cuts expense reports with full automation ✂️

Manual expense processes are time-consuming and make it 10x harder to manage transactions ​​– and when employees are abroad, it can create even more headaches. Ditch the spreadsheets and paper receipts and automate the process with Float. We make it possible to record business expenses in real time, instantly notifying employees to submit their receipts upon every purchase. This has been a gamechanger for companies with employees travelling across the globe. So if your sales team is in Montreal from Tuesday to Wednesday and then in New York Wednesday to Friday, every purchase they make will be approved and recorded in a matter of seconds, all in one place.

❌  Delayed employee reimbursement ⏳

✅  ​​Get instant access to funds during business travel with Float  💳

No manager or employee wants to use their personal credit card during business travel let alone wait for reimbursement. It causes added stress to employees having to use their own money (not to mention waiting to get it back), while complicating expense management with piles of receipts for finance teams to sort through. 🤯 


Is your head exploding yet? Don’t worry, we’ve got an app for that. Our smart spend software along with Float’s physical and virtual cards enable companies to issue an unlimited number of corporate cards to employees in under 3 days. That’s right ​​– no more personal cards during business travel ever again.🕺🏻 So if your marketing team is off to Chicago for a conference, you can easily issue cards for all employees attending, set a spending limit and make each of them valid for the duration of the trip only. This makes it easier for employees to access corporate funds and spend during business travel, while simplifying the process for finance teams by no longer having to reimburse employees and chase them down for receipts.

Take off with Float ✈️

If your teams are travelling often, then Float should be one of the first things on your packing list! 🧳  Our smart automation spend software alongside our corporate cards simplifies corporate travel expense management, saving companies valuable time, energy and money. Float helps you understand where your money is coming and going, who is spending it and how much, allowing businesses to be more strategic, efficient and informed in the way they spend. 

To learn more about how Float can help your company spend smarter and travel better, connect with us today!


Written by

Shawn Qanun

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