Not all businesses will be approved for a corporate credit card. There are standards that needs to be met. For instance, an organization will have to meet a certain revenue threshold to be considered for a corporate credit card and aren’t free. Just like a credit card with an annual fee, a company issued credit card has a fee per employee that goes towards maintenance and exclusive customer service for your business.

Assuming the criteria is met, it’s important to create a credit card agreement that appeases both organization and employees. These guidelines will inform an employee what instances and situations they’re allowed to use their corporate credit card versus their personal card.  This agreement will hold your employees accountable incase an issue arises and not hold the business liable for any misuse.

It is important that the agreement between the organization and the employee is clear and concise when it comes to do’s and don’ts. It’s wise to have a per diem amount on travel expenses to ensure employees are not spending the company’s money frivolously. Best practice would be to require itemized receipts for charges over a certain amount and clarify who, if anyone can fly business or first class when traveling. What happens if an employee doesn’t follow those guidelines? It is important to state consequences in the agreement if an employee fails to abide by the agreement.By ensuring the company issued credit card agreement is clear, fewer mistakes will be made, and fewer exceptions if any will have to be given.

Most corporations require their employees to submit expense reports. The agreement should detail what is expected to be submitted in the expense report. This can include the date where the event took place; the names of any clients that attended a dinner; which hotel an employee stayed at and Deadlines are also important to note in the guidelines, so employees understand when they need to submit their expense reports by.

Last but not least, it’s important to get the agreement approved by your legal department. Legal advice is extremely helpful when creating agreements. At this stage the legal department will be able to let you know if there are any issues with your agreement. They will be able to notify you if anything in the document is offensive, unclear, or could be construed a certain way. Legal will also be able to read through the document and give advice on what (if any) changes need to be made.

Having a solid credit card agreement between the business and the employees ensures that mistakes don’t happen and everyone is on the same page regarding expectations. There will always be issues that aren’t accounted for, but by providing as much information as possible in the agreement and getting approval by legal ensures that those scenarios will be minimal.  By taking these precautions, you are well on your way to decide if a corporate business card is right for you.