Category: Product Education

Ready to level up your experience with Float? Don’t go anywhere – we’re about to let you in on all the tips and tricks. 😉

We’re in the business of making things easier, faster and more reliable for our clients at all times. To deliver on this promise, our team put their heads together to give you the latest hacks so you can make Float work for you at maximum speed and efficiency.⚡️

Hack #1: Tag transaction categories using merchant rules 🔎

Is your finance team sick and tired of constantly attaching GL codes, specific tags and tax codes to the same vendors and transactions? We have a solution for you! All you have to do is go to the Transactions page > go to the top right > select Manage Merchant Rules. Here you can automatically tag and assign whichever filter you want to a specific vendor so you don’t have to do it every single time. 🙌🏾

Here’s an example: anything purchased from Air Canada is most likely a travel expense. In instances like these, you can tag these recurring transactions as “travel” or “flights” and save time by tracking the same GL code to the same vendors.

Hack #2: Bulk edit your transactions ✅

Float allows you to edit, delete or modify multiple transactions all in one shot! This hack is especially helpful if you have a recurring set of transactions and vendors on a monthly basis. It speeds up month-end reporting and improves accuracy by eliminating the chances of human error and letting the software work its magic. 🪄

To bulk edit your transactions, go to the Transactions page, select a group of transactions and instantly apply the same GL code, tax code or any other key details. So if the majority of your employees expense Uber rides on their Float card, you would then go to Transactions > Ready to Export > Search “Uber” and mass select those transactions with the GL code: Transportation. 

Hack #3: Mark receipts as lost 🧾

Missing receipts. It happens to the best of us. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Although Float provides the option to auto-pause cards after a specific number of receipts are missing, we also enable users to bypass the receipt locking feature and mark receipts as “lost.” This not only eliminates roadblocks on daily spending but it actually allows employees to go back and upload the receipt once it’s been found. Of course, you’ll want to be cautious of how often employees are using this feature to ensure they remain compliant with corporate expense policies.

To label a receipt as “lost”, go to the Transactions page > click on the Transaction > click Receipt Options > select “Receipt Lost.” 

Ready to learn more? Reply YES!📱

Allow us to introduce you to our SMS Tracking feature. It gives users the option to add a phone number to their Float account so that every time a request or purchase is made on their Float card, they receive a text with the details of their transaction. This will include the vendor name, approval status and total dollars spent. Shortly after receiving the first text, users will then be notified to text back a picture of their receipt. If the receipt is sent back within 10 minutes, it can be stored in the Float platform and automatically matched with the transaction for easy review. 👨🏻‍💻

It’s the most convenient expense management tool around 👍🏼

With our SMS Tracking feature, employees no longer have to collect and save their expense receipts and managers don’t have to chase them down ever again. Spenders can simply snap a photo of their receipt after every purchase, submit it within Float and toss the physical receipt away. This feature also notifies cardholders of every transaction made via text, making it easier to identify any fraudulent activity or inaccurate charges. 👀  If you’re travelling for work, taking photos of your receipts versus collecting physical receipts will save a lot of time and keep things way more organized.

The Benefits of SMS Tracking

Employees can track their own spending 💸

Users can view and monitor their own corporate spending and see their approvals in real time. For example, if they were to make an online transaction, they could instantly see if the request was approved, make the purchase and confirm whether the purchase went through. Sometimes you don’t realize if a transaction was rejected unless you revisit the website, but this feature makes it 10x easier by instantly notifying spenders if the transaction was completed. ✅

Easy receipt collection and matching 🧾

Employees no longer have to worry about keeping a pile of receipts and submitting them to the finance department at month end. They can simply snap a photo after a purchase is made and send it off for the OCR tooling software to work its magic! If a receipt is submitted within 10 minutes of a purchase, the software can automatically recognize the receipt and match it to a transaction. This will save your finance team hours of valuable time, removing the need to manually collect, review, match and mass upload thousands of receipts!

Allows for seamless spending with no interruptions 💳

Float allows finance managers to pause purchases on corporate cards if a certain amount of receipts haven’t been submitted. It’s a great incentive to hold employees accountable to their spending responsibilities — and the SMS tracking feature is one more way to ensure this. It gives spenders an extra nudge to send in their receipts immediately and prevent their corporate card from being paused. Whether you’re in the middle of a conversation after a business meal or running to catch your flight to a conference in Montreal, it’s easy to forget to send in those receipts. With Float’s text reminders, we can help you stay on top of things for seamless corporate spending!

Smarter expense management for a happier finance team. 🤩

Let’s say it like it is. 🤷🏼‍♂️  When accountants don’t have the right system in place, they’re likely spending endless hours reconciling expenses and matching and collecting receipts. Float’s SMS Tracking feature cuts that time in half and allows for greater accuracy throughout the process. It speeds up reconciliation and makes it easier to manage and review corporate spending over the course of the month.

For more information on our SMS Tracking feature,  book a demo with us today!

Introduction

Many companies are frustrated by their inability to close their books efficiently at month-end. Employees’ misplaced receipts, ineffective software and lengthy credit card reconciliation processes are some of the challenges that financial teams encounter. Companies looking for a more effective way to control and monitor their spending should consider Float. Float ensures that your books are accurate and closed by month-end.

Automation

Float allows businesses to save time by eliminating the need to manually enter data and ease the minds for their finance teams. Companies no longer have to worry about expense reports because our software automatically gathers and matches receipts. Businesses can also set up spend guidelines for their employees, automatically pre-approve expenses and attach simple notifications anytime Float requires a receipt when a transaction is made.

Centralized platform for collaboration

Float has put together a collaborative platform that allows for immediate communication between departments. The team management feature allows businesses to build divisions and designate specific managers within Float, providing transparency and smarter spending habits for employees. TM features relieve the workload for finance managers by delegating controls to managers and securing key financial information for administrators.

Float also makes sure all data points and context have been centralized on the platform by categorizing transactions, making closing books month-end simpler. This includes:

• Preprograming GL accounts to the cards at the time of a cards creation
• Using merchant rules which automatically categorizes transactions 
• Card users having the option of writing a description to provide context of purchase
• Receipts being uploaded directly from card users
• Bookkeepers having access to Float’s platform

Integration speeds up the process

Float has an adaptable platform and software that connects readily with other applications like Slack and Quickbooks, guaranteeing that books will close quicker. Companies can integrate specific financial software with Float, making work more effective and convenient for all teams involved. Another advantage is companies do not need to fight with downloading CSV files and uploading them to accounting software. It’s merely a matter of pressing a button. In fact, you’ll likely save 1 to 2 hours by using Float’s software.

Conclusion

Are you looking for a better way to manage your corporate spending and close your books faster? Book a demo with Float today.

You know that feeling when you walk into a neat and tidy office with a desk clear of paperwork and nothing but the essentials? Well, the same goes for your expense management too. Here are some tips to help you clean up your internal processes, better track spending and eliminate the clutter of expense reports on your desktops this spring.

Clear your desk by ditching expense reports  📑

Expense reports are outdated, time-consuming and often the culprit of unnecessary paperwork piled on our desks. In the spirit of spring cleaning, introduce your finance team to automated expense software like Float – no more headaches or chasing employees for expense reports.  Virtually track company expenses in real time. ✅

Ctrl+Alt+Del the clutter of receipts  🖥

Your pockets, your desk, your drawers, your glove compartment – you’ve likely got receipts floating everywhere! But not if you’re tracking them virtually. Automated expense software simplifies managing those flailing receipts by moving everything neatly into the cloud. ☁️ Employees are instantly notified to submit receipts after making a purchase and finance managers can easily access and view these receipts at any given time. You might find your finance managers with more spring in their step, especially if they don’t have to chase anyone down.

Sweep responsibility over to managers 🧹

It’s time to give your finance manager a break this spring. Using Float’s Team Management (TM) feature, you can introduce multi-level approvals and give department managers more control over their team’s spending. TM provides finance managers with a clean picture of department spending and enables them to easily issue corporate cards with predefined limits to keep everyone on budget. By giving department managers more responsibility, this creates a much tidier and timely approval process for employee spend requests. 💁🏼‍♀️

It’s time to grow this spring 🌷

Consider how your company is tracking expenses and spending on a daily basis. 💸  Is your current process scalable? Are your teams bogged down by lengthy approval processes? Is finance completely losing their mind during tax season? 🤯 At Float, our automated expense software and corporate cards can give you greater visibility and control into real-fine spending, while serving as fertile ground for you to grow and scale. You can easily issue corporate cards to any employee who needs one in 3 days or less and you have access to your financials in real time to support sure-fire decision-making.

Book a demo with us today and we’ll have you fully integrated with Float just in time for spring! 🙌🏻

Since joining the team in November 2021, I’ve been spearheading our finance department and joining forces with the rest of the team to bring Float to the next level. I spent the first three years of my career at one of the Big Four firms and then switched to the startup life in 2018 at SnapCommerce and never looked back. Today at Float, I am the sole Finance Manager leading the finance department with the advantage of getting first dibs on the newest features of our spend management platform.

As the Finance Manager, I live and breathe the everyday experience we’re striving to improve for our customers at Float – and if it’s good for me, I know it’s good for our clients.

Paying the bills faster 💨

I have a lot going on in my workday, and the ability to automate some of my tasks has been a key factor in accelerating my speed and giving me the time to focus on bigger projects. The fact that Float simplifies the entire spend management process is the reason why I’m able to manage all of the finances on my own – without getting overwhelmed or drowning in monthly reconciliations. I can automate nearly everything on my to-do list and put my time to good use. For example, paying bills is now ten times more efficient for me because of Float. All I have to do is log into the platform, create a one-time card and I can pay for expenses in minutes.

I’m responsible for paying a number of vendors who charge us on a monthly basis. With our platform and corporate cards, I’m able to create a recurring monthly card with a set amount so that vendors can charge the card themselves each month. If a vendor were to charge more, the card would lock and I would be immediately notified. No overspending. No fraud. No problem.

I really don’t think I could ever go back to my old way of managing spending. Data collection, receipt management, spend approvals – they’re all getting done behind the scenes without me having to manually track and manage it.

Team Management is a gamechanger 🚥

Team Management is making a big difference for us as a growing startup. It gives me full visibility and tracking capabilities to ensure that our budgets are never exceeded and everyone is spending responsibly. Being able to create multi-level spend approvals has decentralized spending within our company and has allowed me to shift more responsibility to managers – this has been a game changer especially on my busy days. Employees never have to ask me for daily spend approvals and can go directly to their manager instead – I only get involved for big ticket spending that may have a material impact on our budgets. We don’t have lengthy approval processes and so things get done quickly and efficiently. This has given me more time to focus on higher priority projects that add more value to the business.

No more chasing down receipts 🙅🏻‍♀️

As a finance manager who has worked at startups and big corporations, I know firsthand just how frustrating and inefficient corporate spending and spend management can be without the right tools in place. I can’t imagine going back to my old ways of work – creating expense reports and chasing employees for receipts. Using Float at Float 😉 I have more control and a better handle on corporate spending, from issuing corporate cards on the spot to setting spending limits. This has allowed us to remain on budget, spend smarter and grow, while keeping our team lean.

After years of working in both startup and corporate finance teams, I can say with confidence that every company should use Float. It has completely changed the way I work.

If you need greater access to corporate funds or are looking for a better way to collect and manage receipts, Float can help. Our automated spend management software and corporate cards will ease the burden on you (or your finance team) and give time back to be more strategic.

Book a demo with Float today and wave goodbye to your financial headaches.

Is your company experiencing rapid growth this new year? Does your organization host monthly seminars? Are you planning to accelerate your marketing efforts in 2022? As you grow, expenses only pile up and in order to stay afloat (no pun intended😉) one major way to streamline is increasing the number of corporate cards floating in your organization. 

Here are three signs that your company is ready to introduce Float cards.

1. You’re a fast-growing company with multiple departments🚀

If your team is growing that means more employees are spending and you have more expenses to keep track of. A great way to get a handle on this is by issuing corporate cards within your departments with an automated system to manage it all. At Float, our latest and greatest feature Team Management takes team spending to a whole new level.⬆️ It allows organizations to easily issue corporate cards across all departments and makes it easier to empower smarter spending within teams. Managers gain greater control and visibility over departmental spending with the authority to set predefined budgets, distribute corporate cards 💳 and approve spend requests in real time.🤩

If you’re worried about getting approved for corporate credit cards, don’t fret. At Float, we eliminate all the time-consuming processes you’d experience at the bank by issuing and delivering your cards in less than 3 days! Yes, you read that correctly.😉 Float wastes no time when it comes to helping fast-growing companies spend smarter!

2. You’re dreaming of a healthier spend culture.💭

At Float, we’re in the business of making your spending dreams reality.💫 By making it easier to issue corporate cards to employees, startups can empower their teams and give them the autonomy to make valuable spending decisions. It’s a positive demonstration of trust with employees and allows them to act quickly and be more innovative in their daily projects.

With all of these cards floating around, finance managers can rest assured. All Float cards are connected to our smart spend software, which effectively tracks and organizes all purchases in real time. In addition, for each individual card, managers have the ability to create spend controls for specific categories, departments and employees to limit and monitor company-wide spending

3. You want more efficiency in your operations ✅

Ditch the expense reports once and for all. And while you’re at it, you can stop chasing down employees for receipts. If your company is looking to bring more efficiency to expense management, Float can simplify your daily accounting tasks and automate the entire process by  collecting all your financial data in one place in real time. It removes all of the manual labour and saves you from long hours spent filtering through paper receipts from the entire year. Imagine that. Not to mention, Float cards give employees the freedom to make purchasing decisions faster, without being bogged down by long wait times for management to approve transactions and spend requests. 

If your team is on a clear path to growth and there are no signs of slowing down, keep the momentum going with Float’s corporate cards. Book a demo today and experience what it’s like to spend smarter with Float!

It’s that time of year again! Everyone’s getting in the festive spirit, with no shortage of holiday office parties, dinners and team activities. 🎄 Then comes year-end ruining all the fun. 😑 It’s no secret that closing the fiscal year is always a hectic time for finance and accounting teams. And it doesn’t help that most companies are leading with outdated and inefficient processes that only cause further delays and headaches. 

Luckily, things don’t have to go on this way. Think of automated expense software as the Tylenol to your year-end headaches. 💊 It simplifies your year-end by eliminating expense reports, automating reconciliation, tracking purchases and receipts in real-time, streamlining spending approvals and requests and more. It also gives financial teams quick access to financial reporting for better business planning and decision-making. ✅

Leave manual reports in 2021 👋

Manual expense reports are a waste of valuable time and money, especially this time of year. They’re prone to human error and can potentially compromise the accuracy of critical financial data in your annual reporting. These outdated processes not only take long but they can impact your credibility with key stakeholders like investors or your board of directors.

Automating year-end processes not only reduces these risks, but it eliminates expense reports altogether. Finance and accounting teams can verify data, record and manage invoices and receipts and generate real-time reporting with speed and accuracy. It also minimizes all of the back and forth with employees and teams, cutting all those long hours and late nights at your desktop. 😴

Stay organized all year round 🗓

With the holidays coming close and employees likely taking time off, year end is not the time to be chasing people down for receipts. Automated expense software helps companies better control and manage spending 24-7-365 so that year-end isn’t a massive pile of paperwork and receipts. It introduces a more proactive approach to corporate spending with features that streamline key processes on your year-end to-do list:

• Reconcile your books in a flash ⚡️
• Track business purchases in real time 💸
• Create simple financial policies for all employees to follow 🙌🏾
• Instantly notify employees to submit receipts when they spend 🧾
• Set spending limits and approve spend requests in seconds 👍🏼
• Collect and review key financial data all in one place 👀

This keeps internal teams, financial controllers and management all aligned and organized at any point of the financial year, with no guesswork and zero stress. 

Separate business and personal with virtual cards 👏

Blurring the lines between personal and business expenses is a common mistake many businesses make – with the consequences often creeping in at annual close. 🤯 When employees use their personal credit cards for business purchases, this can make it 10x harder to track and control spending. We know that your average Canadian bank makes it even more difficult to issue corporate cards, which is why so many of us turn to our personal cards to make purchases. Good news, we have a loophole! 😉

Fully integrated with your automated expense software, virtual cards like ours at Float make it easier for businesses to issue credit cards to employees in less than a week, removing personal credit from the equation entirely. With access to virtual cards, employees have greater autonomy and more power to make responsive decisions for the business without jumping through various hoops for approval. 

End the year strong with Float 🤩

If you’re still doing things the old-fashioned way, it’s likely that your finance and accounting teams are approaching year-end feeling overworked. Well guess what, Float can help! Our automated expense software and virtual cards make it a whole lot easier to close the year without your finance team burning out. 

Float fosters a strategic partnership between finance teams and the rest of the organization by making it easy to create and follow financial policies and stay organized daily so that year-end headaches are a thing of the past. 

To learn more about how Float can help you close the year, book a demo today!