The Real Cost of Handing Out Company Credit Cards Without Controls

Susan Finch and Lany Sullivan dig into something nobody wants to talk about but everybody needs to hear. A client's new bookkeeper asked a simple question about canceling a former employee's card. The owner said they already had the card. Turns out the physical card was in a desk drawer, but the numbers were saved in the employee's personal Amazon account. For 18 months.

Lany brings her banking background to this conversation - branch operations, mortgage processing, risk management, the whole deal. She's seen what happens when businesses don't have proper controls in place. She's also seen the theft, the fraud, and the embezzlement that follows.

They walk through why your bookkeeper just paying the bill isn't oversight. Why the "put it on your personal card and expense it" model doesn't work anymore. Why most employees probably don't need company cards at all. And what to do instead - purchasing processes, approval limits, the works.

If you've got company cards floating around and you're not 100% sure where they're saved or what they're being used for, this episode is for you.

00:00 - Introduction and WinCo shopping conversation
00:45 - The company credit card discovery story
02:00 - How easy it is to add cards to personal accounts
03:15 - Why checks and balances are critical
04:15 - Understanding financial leakages and OPM
05:15 - Risk tolerance and compliance boundaries
06:00 - The bookkeeper's role in reconciliation
06:30 - Small business vulnerabilities
07:00 - The American Express expense report model
08:00 - Individual card numbers and identification
09:00 - Generational differences in floating expenses
09:30 - Two-factor authentication and dual signers
10:00 - The four-step purchasing process
11:00 - Setting spending limits and approval levels
12:30 - Trusted contractors and liability
14:00 - Ethical contractor practices
15:00 - Who really needs a company card
16:00 - Onboarding and credit card policy documentation
17:00 - Honest mistakes vs. intentional fraud
18:30 - Simple prevention: stickers on business cards
19:00 - The debt obligation reality
20:00 - Rethinking your approach
21:00 - Executive branch only recommendation
22:00 - Streamlined purchasing processes
23:00 - Questions for your bookkeeper
24:00 - Real theft, fraud, and embezzlement experiences