Start with how money actually leaves the company
List every way money goes out: company cards, reimbursed personal expenses, vendor bills, subscriptions and payroll. Each one needs a clear owner and a clear approval path.
Set approval limits
- Decide what anyone can spend without asking, for example routine supplies under a set amount.
- Decide what a manager can approve, and what needs leadership.
- Require approval before a purchase, not after, for anything above the first limit.
- Treat new subscriptions and contracts as their own category, since they repeat every month or year.
Write the expense policy
Keep it to a page or two. A good policy covers:
- What counts as a business expense, and common things that do not.
- Travel and meal guidelines.
- How and when to submit receipts, and the deadline each month.
- How reimbursements are paid and how quickly.
- What happens if receipts are missing.
Make the process easy to follow
People follow a process that takes less effort than working around it. Use one place to request approval, one place to upload receipts, and send a reminder a few days before month-end. Most expense and bill pay tools can route approvals by amount automatically once the rules are written down.
Review it every quarter
Look at what was approved, what was rejected and where requests got stuck. Adjust the limits as the company grows, and check for subscriptions nobody uses anymore.
We write spending policies, set up approval routing in your tools and train managers to use it. See finance operations.