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Features
Platform Modules
Corporate cards
Smart budget controlled corporate cards with receipt collection controls for
your entire team.
Employee Reimbursements
Manage your entire company's T&E spending in one easy-to- use platform that
employees love.
Petty Cash Management
Replace petty cash vouchers with digital cash on hand management solution &
Pluto's unlimited corporate cards.
Procurement & Account Payables
Consolidate your procurement & finance team in one platform to process requests,
approvals & bulk payments.
Accounting automation
Automations that help reduce errors & move from monthly close to real-time
close.
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Solutions
FEATURES
Retail & E-commerce chains
Pluto helps the largest retail providers manage their finances across every
branch
Agencies
Pluto helps agencies & client-first companies track & manage expenses at a
per-client level
Truck & Fleet
See how companies like UDrive use Pluto to track their spending.
Consulting firms
Client-forward firms use Pluto to track investments made across every client.
SMBs
SMEs in UAE use Pluto's core modules to save on card & employee reimbursements
spending.
Enterprises & Large Group Holdings
The only platform that can handle enterprise grade operation scale.
Integrations
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MS Dynamics integration
Quickbooks integration
Xero integration
Zoho integration
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PROCURE TO PAY & ACCOUNT PAYABLES AUTOMATION SOFTWARE FOR MEA BUSINESSES
Netsuite, Dynamics & Other ERP Integration • Budget Controlled Purchasing Cards
• Global payments • Procurement & Payables Automation
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Pluto customers save an average of 26% per month in finance teams time.
For truck & fleet companies
For e-commerce & retail businesses
For manufacturing business
For agencies & tech companies
4.8 / 5.0 star
from Finance Professionals
Accepted worldwide, without limits
TRUSTED BY THE LARGEST MEA FINANCE & PROCUREMENT TEAMS
TVC & Music Video Production
Government Services
Aviation Company
Transportation
Travel
Largest Chemical Distributor
Real estate platform
Beauty
Transportation
TVC & Music Video Production
Government Services
Aviation Company
Transportation
Travel
Largest Chemical Distributor
Real estate platform
Beauty
Transportation
Real Estate
Mobile Car Services
Proptech company
Advertising and PR
Media
Media
Public Relations
Payments platform
Real Estate
Mobile Car Services
Proptech company
Advertising and PR
Media
Media
Public Relations
Payments platform
WHETHER YOU START WITH ONE MODULE OR ADOPT THE WHOLE PLATFORM, PLUTO HELPS YOUR
FINANCE TEAM SAVE TIME & MONEY.
Procure to Pay
Corporate Cards
Petty Cash Management
T&E Reimbursements
Bill Management
Real time insights
PROCURE TO PAY
Consolidate your finance & procurement team within procure to pay software.
Manage the entire lifecycle of procurement, from Purchase Requests (PR) to
generating Purchase Orders (PO), Bill & invoice matching and more.
CORPORATE CARDS
Get smart virtual & physical cards for your entire team with automated spending
controls, receipt policy enforcements & compliance management.
No more sharing OTPs or wasting money on hidden FX fees.
Learn More
PETTY CASH MANAGEMENT
Digitize and eliminate petty cash vouchers.
Mange your employee's cash on hand & receipts directly on Pluto.
Don't let cash leakages eat away at your bottom-line.
T&E REIMBURSEMENTS
Allow your employees to submit reimbursement requests with ease.
Get the right approvals in place with custom approval workflows.
Instantly reimburse employees in bulk & exceed your finance teams KPIs.
Learn More
BILL MANAGEMENT
Improve your vendor relationships & reduce duplicate payments by maintaining a
centralized place for all of your bills, approvals & payments.
Pay using vendor & budget controlled corporate cards or local & international
wire transfers.
Learn More
REAL TIME INSIGHTS
Send automated weekly finance reports to your CFO & other executives. Ensure
auditability across every module.
ACCOUNTING ERP INTEGRATIONS
CLOSE YOUR BOOKS 10X FASTER
Integrate your ERP & accounting system with Pluto, sync all payments directly
with your GL & tax codes, and close your books 10x faster.
Pluto integrates with all major ERPs including Xero, Zoho, QuickBooks, Dynamics
& Netsuite.
Pluto definitely helps the business manage their operational spending in a most
efficient manner and provide visibility of how the forecast would look like.
Before Pluto, me as a CFO had to wait for a month end report to understand the
spending and frequency of the same but now with Pluto have much better
visibility on each department and their frequency of spending.
Jarna Gaglaani, CFO, UDrive
BEFORE AND AFTER WITH PLUTO
For Finance Teams
For Procurement Teams
For Employees
Before Pluto
Lack of visibility into where money is being spent. Difficulty in identifying
areas where costs can be reduced. Unable to enforce control budgets. Wasted time
spent on chasing employees to submit expense reports.
After Pluto
Track and control spending by collecting and analyzing data from all areas of
the business. Intuitive processes that adopt spending policies & procedures, and
approval workflows. Tight control over the company’s finances, allowing for
growth.
Before Pluto
Manually filling purchase requisition forms. Chasing management for approvals
and signatures. Matching invoices to POs. Lack of visibility on vendor contracts
& negotiations.
After Pluto
Pluto's Procure to Pay module is a comprehensive solution that streamlines the
procurement process and enables finance teams to have full visibility and
control over PO spending. With Pluto, employees can easily submit procurement
requests, while finance teams can track and manage the entire process, ensuring
compliance and cost control.
Before Pluto
No clear visibility on spend. Overspending. Business expenses are missing
receipts. Hours spent on reimbursement claims. Miscommunication between team
members and departments. Shared OTPs.
After Pluto
Easy spend control adoption. Vendor-specific cards to avoid abuse. Reimbursement
claims in 30 seconds. Assigned budgeted corporate cards for each employee. No
more shared OTPs.
FOR FINANCE TEAMS
Before
After
Before Pluto
Lack of visibility into where money is being spent. Difficulty in identifying
areas where costs can be reduced. Unable to enforce control budgets. Wasted time
spent on chasing employees to submit expense reports.
After Pluto
Track and control spending by collecting and analyzing data from all areas of
the business. Intuitive processes that adopt spending policies & procedures, and
approval workflows. Tight control over the company’s finances, allowing for
growth.
FOR PROCUREMENT TEAMS
Before
After
Before Pluto
Manually filling purchase requisition forms. Chasing management for approvals
and signatures. Matching invoices to POs. Lack of visibility on vendor contracts
& negotiations.
After Pluto
Pluto's Procure to Pay module is a comprehensive solution that streamlines the
procurement process and enables finance teams to have full visibility and
control over PO spending. With Pluto, employees can easily submit procurement
requests, while finance teams can track and manage the entire process, ensuring
compliance and cost control.
FOR EMPLOYEES
Before
After
Before Pluto
No clear visibility on spend. Overspending. Business expenses are missing
receipts. Hours spent on reimbursement claims. Miscommunication between team
members and departments.
Shared OTPs.
After Pluto
Easy spend control adoption. Vendor-specific cards to avoid abuse. Reimbursement
claims in 30 seconds. Assigned budgeted corporate cards for each employee. No
more shared OTPs.
MODERN SPEND MANAGEMENT ON THE GO
The Pluto mobile app brings streamlined spend management to the palm of your
hand.
COST & COMPLIANCE CONTROL
MORE BUDGET CONTROLS, LESS FINANCIAL STRESS
Issue vendor-controlled corporate cards.
Get managers approvals for transactions & implement a customized workflow as per
your company's policies.
Set daily, monthly, or yearly card budget limits to avoid being overcharged.
Get notified when duplicate receipts have been uploaded.
Book a demo
approval workflows
AUTOMATE APPROVALS, ELIMINATE CONFUSION
Embed your expense policy with our flexible policy builder into Pluto’s software
to control, manage and monitor spending and ensure compliance with your
company’s policy guidelines.
Book a demo
HOW PLUTO HELPS YOUR TEAM SAVE TIME AND MONEY
SAVE MONEY
Unlimited 2% cash back on 100+ currency card spend that beats any other
corporate card or loyalty point cards in the market
10X reductions in petty cash spends
90% receipt collection success rate with automated receipt chasing
Over $50,000 worth of partner perks including discounts on UAE tax consultation
services
Increased visibility over vendor contracts & negotiations to make sure you're
getting the best deal and cutting costs.
SAVE TIME
10+ hours saved per month with direct accounting sync (QBO, Xero, MS, Netsuite
and more)
Auto-categorization of all expenses
Automated budget & spend controls so you can be hands-off
No manual report creation, automated dashboards & insights
Automatic invoice management with OCR technology
2-3 way PO matching
SAVE 2% ON ALL FX TRANSACTIONS
Use our calculator to find out how much you can save with Pluto's 2% cash back
on FX transactions policy. Save every time you make a non-AED payment.
Calculate your cashback
SEE WHY MENA FINANCE TEAMS LOVE US!
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Works with your existing bank account. Accepted in 200+ countries.
LEARN FROM MENA'S TOP CFO'S AND FINANCE PROFESSIONALS
View all
14 minutes
November 28, 2023
•
Interviewed by
Leen Shami
Charting the Journey of a First-Time CFO: An Interview with Jarna Gaglaani, CFO
of UDrive
What is your background, your education, and how have you reached this stage in
your career? Tell us about yourself.
I come from Bangalore, India. It is supposed to be the tech hub of the country.
Growing up, I didn't have anyone to look up to.
> As I was growing up, I realized that I needed to do something extraordinary.
> I wanted to be a working woman, which is not normal in our culture and
> country. I wanted to create an impact.
While Chartered Accountancy was not exactly a childhood passion for me, it would
give me a shot at achieving all this and more. I could also have gone for an MBA
but for the expense. So I chose to pursue the former.
To become a CA in India, you have to crack one of the toughest exams in the
country. There's a pass percentage of around 2%. That was a huge challenge, but
I love challenges. I took it up along with my graduation and became a CA by the
time I was 22.
I also got a lucky break with Coca-Cola in Bangalore where I got to work in the
regional finance office as a financial analyst. I really started my career with
understanding the numbers, right? As a financial analyst you create the numbers,
try to interpret data, and then see the impact it has on the business. And
that's how I just got onto this path.
From there I moved to a tech company where I supported the team with the
functional improvements and enhancements in accounting software or ERP.
Thereafter, I moved to core FP&A.
I moved to Dubai and got into proper financial accounting, projections,
budgeting and managing cash flows, typically what every finance manager does.
I also consulted independently for a while to support companies with
implementations.
Finally, I landed at UDrive. I began my journey here as an accountant. I set up
the department like a finance manager, accounts manager, and have pretty much
done that in the last five years, where every year I did something completely
different. This has helped me learn new things.
That has been my journey in a nutshell.
Can you tell us about the biggest challenge you have faced as a first-time CFO?
One thing that most of the corporate world suffers from and I guess I did too,
is the lack of a mentor, coach, guide, or someone who has done it before you.
This has been my biggest struggle because while you can do everything that you
know and you've learned, you do not get to learn new things. This means you have
to experiment by yourself, make some mistakes, and use them to learn.
I’ve noticed that it’s easier to find peers who will guide you in professions
and departments other than Finance. In tech, for example, there are many
people in a department and each can handhold one other; they learn. But most
companies have just one chartered accountant. The others are mostly junior
accountants. So, the companies that I worked with didn't have many people that
I could look up to.
> As a first time CFO, my biggest challenge was getting my hands dirty to learn
> and improve everything by myself.
You spoke a lot about the chartered accountants' course. Can you tell us more
about it and how it helped you in your current role as CFO?
CAs are certified accountants in India, similar to certified public accountants
(CPAs) in the USA. The only difference in India is that they've made the
standards pretty high now.
Throughout my four years of the course, there were at least 16 different
aspects of the business commercial world that I was exposed to. From commercial
law and cost accounting, to management accounting,reporting, and technology as
well.
The thing about this course is that it gave me exposure to many areas. Now a few
people from here may pick up auditing and they just work on the audit side of
it. Few other people may just take accounting and they get into a FP&A role.
But most of all, chartered accountants become managers by default. You learn
about taxes, indirect taxes, and direct taxes. And you then specialize in
whichever area you want to.
Every business has these key functions, whether you talk about people
management, accounting, taxation, compliance, or costing and management
accounting. And of course, large corporates may have different people doing
different things, but in a startup, it's very important that you are aware of
more than one role, and I think that's where it has helped me a lot because I
could really understand when I see some data or I see some statistics, I can
strategically make a decision based on the numbers.
As a CFO, you are expected to handle more than just finance functions and
financial matters. You also need to have a good understanding of other
operational areas such as HR, legal, marketing, compliance, and sales. How do
you balance and navigate these different areas effectively as a CFO?
You do not learn everything overnight, right?
I started with the accounting function, but over a period of time the need arose
that I had to do more of a financial analyst role or a business analyst role.
So, I gradually grew into that role. And thereafter my role required legal
expertise so I took that up as well.
I may not be a lawyer, but I can read a legal document because that's what we
learn in our business law, right?
Over a period of time, I think, a couple of years back, our HR function needed
someone to have a strategic mindset. So, I took up that upon myself to oversee
the HR function as well. And I think over a period of time you understand what
are the key levers of the business; you understand operations is a key, if you
tackle that well, then everything else just falls in place. I took that
responsibility to understand the challenges that operations were facing. I never
really managed operations directly, but I started learning about it. Later, I
even learned marketing.
When I joined U Drive, there were hardly any senior people in the organization.
In fact, almost all of the senior people just came on board in the previous
year. At the time, we had no choice but to really be everywhere. That’s why I
learned marketing, I learned business development, I learned tech.
> Whatever I could, and needed to, I just started picking up. And it's very
> important for a CFO to have a complete understanding of each function. You
> cannot, basically be in your silo of financial information and not know what's
> happening in other departments, because ultimately all of these functions put
> together push the company ahead.
With UDrive being a car-sharing company, how do you manage the balance between
strategic thinking and the challenges of running a complex business with many
logistics involved?
This is one thing I'm proud to share: we do almost around 40,000 rentals in a
month.
I would say it would be much better as we grow over 40,000 rentals in 1 month,
but the truth is we may be just sitting in the office sipping coffee.
Just imagine any rental car company that has the physical delivery of vehicles,
if they had to do 40,000 rentals a month, I think they may be just overstocked.
I mean, they would have to have thousands of people doing that, right? But for
us, it's all technology. This is what data automation and all the systems that
you build can help you with.
The business is complex. Why is it complex? Because our product keeps moving
all the time. It's not in one place, right? So which customers to target, where
to target, we don't know, right?
But what we do in the course of our business is start a process. We set some
basic guidelines and expectations. Then, over a period of time, we assess what
the key challenges are, and we develop tools and systems to handle those
challenges.
My CEO, Mr. Nick Watson, is someone who is a strong believer that you can never
perfect anything. So you just start and by the time you implement, you
accumulate enough learning to perfect it.
Most of our thinking time goes into finding the right tools or right methods to
handle a challenge.
UDRIVE was one of Pluto’s Earliest Customers, and we have been partners since.
You made a very strong strategic decision to adopt modern finance tools. What
made you do this? How can finance teams be more open to automation?
Again, it comes from the culture that we set in the company, right from day one.
When I joined the company, we didn't even have an ERP. The books of accounts
were maintained in Excel. We didn't have automated invoicing, nor automation
for card payments.
Of course, it was just the first year of the company’s business, so there were
too many things happening. Of course, one is that the volume of transactions we
handle is so high that you don't have a choice but to go for automation in
whatever form.
The second thing is that adopting technology has helped us focus on the right
things in the business. Now, we don’t have to chase 20 people asking them to
submit bills and cash transactions every time.
> Pluto drastically reduced our issues overnight. We knew that people would
> find it very convenient to always have money on their cards. They could just
> go spend,without requesting approvals and permissions repeatedly. Convenience
> makes a big difference.
Plus the future of payments is digital and paperless. We cannot sustain if we
don't go for modern solutions.
I do understand that a lot of accountants still come from that traditional
thinking where they want control in their hand and they don't want to give it
away . But, we have to think about the cost associated with it. Is it simply
keeping three people occupied doing this tedious, repetitive, grunt work? Or is
your objective actually to accelerate your work? I think that is the reason
when Pluto came in… I didn't have to even think for a second.
For us it was a no brainer. I mean, why should my accountant waste hours just
collating information and dumping that into the system when there is already a
tool that can do it for you?
What are some of the key tactics you have planned to implement for cost
containment in the upcoming years?
Well, we are already a very frugal company. We always operate like a
bootstrapped company, although we are funded.
> We believe that every penny that you put in has to have a ROI attached to it.
> I wouldn't call it cost containment, but cost optimization is something that
> we should all work on all the time. So, every single cost that we incur, we
> keep.
And I think, again, we take major help from technology here. We are a tech
driven company in every way.
I'll give you a simple example.
Let's say we are spending some amount on rebalancing the vehicles, right? The
vehicles are not where they should be, and we are just moving them. Over a
period of time we have data collected. We review and analyze this data, then we
find out what is the best way that we could build our own predictive way of
ensuring that the vehicle is where the customer is.
We work on those kinds of data driven decisions which help reduce our costs.
How critical is data analysis for decision-making processes within the
organization, and what types of data do you focus on as a CFO? How do you go
about identifying and prioritizing the different types of data that are relevant
to the car-sharing industry?
Most of our work is all about data, and it is not limited to financial data
alone. We also work with operational data and marketing data such as customer
acquisition, the cost of customer acquisition, retention, churn rate etc.
We use the data for operational decision making, devising strategies on the
basis of it.
> That's one of the key things that CFOs have to understand; their role is to
> help the business navigate using the data that they have.
CFOs basically have that understanding of building a story out of the data,
right?
So, we get the data, we learn what it means, we get the insights, and we see how
it'll influence decision making.
Over the years, the role of the CFO has undergone a significant transformation,
becoming increasingly strategic and less focused on traditional finance
functions. Could you share some insights into how you have personally witnessed
this evolution of the CFO role? How has your own approach to the CFO role
changed over time to adapt to these changes?
The CFO role is always strategic in nature because one of the key things that a
CFO has to ensure is to focus on how they can increase the return on
shareholders’ equity.
> I would say that part of traditional finance will always remain with the CFO,
> but the evolving role of a CFO is now majorly as a finance business
> partner. Be the eye on the operations side and focus on how to increase the
> value of the business and how to ensure that you are able to evolve the
> business over a period of time. Whether it is about diversification, whether
> it is about going deeper into operations or adding more verticals to the
> business. Whatever it is, I think, the CFO's role is always strategic in
> nature.
In our case, I was handling everything. When I became a CFO, my focus had to be
much more on the business level, which is why we hired a finance manager and he
takes care of the compliance, the finance, and the audit. He turns out the
numbers, and then I read the numbers and see how we can help influence the
decision making.
In your opinion, what are the most important skills for a CFO to possess in
order to excel in a strategic role?
I think the first and foremost skill would be to understand the key lever of
the business in and out.
If a CFO doesn't understand what the key impact areas of the business are, then
it's very difficult to support decision making. So, understand the business,
what impacts the business, what impacts the revenue, what impacts your cost,
what impacts your growth, your scale trajectory, everything.
The second one is about learning how to manage resources. Again, one of the
biggest assets every company has is human capital, right?
> It's very important for CFOs to understand how to maximize the return from
> this capital. Every penny that you invest in human resources should generate
> multiples of it for the company. That's how you drive efficiency. If the
> business was all about tools and systems, it would've been easier, but I think
> business is all about how human capital is deployed to get the results.
And thirdly, is to be open to new tools, technologies, new ideas, new thought
processes. If you don't learn technologies, if you are still dependent on old
formats like Excel, and you are dependent on the old way of doing things, then I
think you'll be wasting away your time doing the same work instead of adding
value.
You have worked in several industries so far, including F&B and consulting. What
role do you think subject matter expertise plays in the role of a CFO for the
industry? And how have you acquired industry-specific SME knowledge quickly?
We are not number crunchers anymore. That's how it was in the past, but today's
systems can do that for you. You don't have to crunch numbers and tally balance
sheets. That's not your job anymore.
> The role of a CFO today is to interpret the numbers and be able to give
> insights, valuable insights, to the business. That is not possible if you are
> not a subject matter expert.
Of course, there are other things like compliance, where compliance requires
your subject matter expertise. Not everyone can do that.
Similarly, auditing. These are the things where you definitely need to have
subject matter expertise.
But most importantly, I would say it’s about data, it’s about your numbers, what
they talk about, and how you can disintegrate that number to a level where
people can understand what it relates to.
As far as your second question is concerned: If you understand from a business
point of view, then the industry may keep changing, but the key levers don't
change. Or even if they change, it's easy to pick them up because you know this
is what impacts the business.
If it's a current rental business, then these are the key drivers of this
business. If it's FMCG, then these are the key drivers of the business. So it's
not difficult to understand if you understand the business well.
The first few months in U Drive, I could understand what the key things were
that we needed to play around with to ensure that our revenue per car increases.
Or what the key things were that we needed to do to see that our gross margins
start improving. These are the things that you begin to understand when you
understand the business.
One thing I want to circle back to is our topic about technology. With the rapid
development of technologies like AI and the increasing digitization of
businesses, CFOs must ensure their companies are adaptable to change. Success
will be achieved by organizations that use technology effectively and promote
internal alignment by breaking down silos. Have you introduced any new
technologies that have helped UDrive’s finance team increase efficiency?
Automation was the first thing that I implemented.
Of course, I do not understand coding, so I cannot do it myself, but having the
right people around you who can do it for you, and you being the key driver,
helps.
I started with automating invoices and charging the cards. Data analytics is
another thing.
So, we onboarded data scientists who can really put things together in a manner
that you can make decisions.
And we already use AI for our data-driven decisions on operations.
There are several technologies, not necessarily that I have spearheaded
everything, but at least I have been one of the first users of it for sure, if
I'm not driving it myself.
And you mentioned earlier that when you joined there was no ERP system.
I had to put that in place.
We could not do 40,000 rentals if we were still manually generating invoices.
You have to do it because you cannot ever let business get restricted. The
growth cannot get restricted because you are not up to speed with technology.
You always need to prepare well in advance.
UDrive is now live in Saudi Arabia. Congratulations! A lot of CFOs in MENA need
to handle multi-jurisdiction finances. This is very different from the USA. How
have your skills evolved to handle such tough challenges?
You may not be fully knowledgeable about a lot of things you doYou mess up, you
make some mistakes, you learn from it, and you correct it.
I think this is what my experience is about, even when it comes to finances for
Saudi, so far we are managing most of it from the UAE.
Of course, as we grow, we will have them based in Saudi. We just concluded the
first audit of Saudi, so we can say that we are good to go. The compliances are
very different. And the sad part is not everything is documented easily.
One of the things that I learned from this entire exercise is that it's always
good to have a consultant in that market who's a subject matter expert.
What are some of the biggest pain points that you face today as a CFO, and how
are you currently solving them?
One of the biggest pain points is having all functions working in silos.
There is no common source of truth.
We keep facing this challenge every now and then. It's not just us. I think
every company faces this issue because most of the time, finance teams go with
their thought process, their mindset, their logic, their numbers, and that's
completely different from how the business works.
Aligning both of these and ensuring that they work as complements to each other
is one of the biggest challenges or hurdles to cross, and when you start working
together, it all starts making sense. But I think having a single source of
truth and having the compiled data was my biggest challenge.
Another challenge would be adopting the technology without having a hundred
percent understanding of it. You want to do a lot of things, but it takes a lot
of time and it costs you a lot. Without understanding the benefits and how
you're going to maximize your value on this, you are not able to motivate or
engage resources to deliver it to you.This is where I think you suffer a lot
because you don't know how to encapsulate what you want in technological
language. Functionally, you know, this is what you want and you know it's going
to have a lot of advantages, but you don't know how to communicate with the
stakeholders for them to understand how important it is.
What advice would you give finance professionals in today’s modern age?
First, I think all finance professionals have to wear the hat of a business
partner.
As I said, we are not number crunchers alone. We are not here only to just
compile data and share it with people.
That's not the role of a finance person anymore.
They have to be in a position to understand the business and see how they can
correlate the numbers with business performance and influence decision-making.
This is something that you need to do with each function head, because until
they don't understand what they are doing, and how it is impacting in the p&l.
The second thing I would say is, be ready to learn and adapt to changes.
> I still see a lot of people who are comfortable with the old ways of doing
> things and don't want to try doing something new or different. Make an
> attempt, take that risk. You'll fail. That's fine. We'll make a mistake, we'll
> learn from it and we'll correct it.
11 minutes
April 25, 2023
•
Interviewed by
Leen Shami
Inside the Mind of Eon Dental’s CFO: Mastering Strategic Healthcare Finance
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF - YOUR BACKGROUND, EDUCATION, AND CAREER JOURNEY.
I majored in accounting and finance. I got into the healthcare industry very
early in my career, and I was fortunate to join Hikma Pharmaceuticals, where I
worked firsthand with the CFO and the executive chairman.
At Hikma, I got to work on some very exciting projects at a very early stage in
my career, including the rollout of the budgeting and planning functions, their
IPO, and M&A projects.
After I spent about six years over there, I naturally picked up the healthcare
label and stayed within that space. I ended up working at a private equity fund
in Dubai that was focusing on healthcare, among other things.
I also worked at Sandoz, which is the generic arm of Novartis.
After that, I joined Smith and Nephew, which is one of the world's largest
medical device companies.
I had a small entrepreneurial stint, which unfortunately didn't go too well. It
was a new concept that I launched right before the onset of Covid, which wasn't
very helpful.
But then that's really how I found myself joining Eon. In March 2021, I came to
know about a medical device company that's based out of Jordan that's searching
for a CFO- - and I joined in April 2021.
> What happens in the other departments eventually finds its way into the
> finance function.
CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY?
The entrepreneurial journey was obviously very difficult but equally exciting. I
tried to introduce a new concept to the market; similar to GPOs which are group
purchasing organizations, they're quite prevalent in the US in the healthcare
space. But we also have some of them over here (MENA) in public hospitals.
So with GPOs, even though hospitals may be competing on the front-end for
patients and doctors, there's a lot of room to collaborate on the back-end,
generally in terms of bulk buying, and particularly for commoditized products.
So I tried to set up something similar to that over here in the UAE. I got some
large hospital groups signed up, which was very good. But I think the market
wasn’t ready for a new business model, and when Covid came into play, the task
became more difficult.
At that point, I decided to take a pause, especially when a more exciting
opportunity came.
WHICH OF THESE MOMENTS MARKED A TURNING POINT IN YOUR CAREER, AND WHY WAS IT SO
IMPORTANT?
I'd start off with Hikma.
One, looking back, no company gave me the same kind of experience where I was
working alongside the CFO and the executive chairman.
Two, the nature of the projects themselves. When you're based out of Jordan,
only a handful of companies give you that kind of exposure, especially on that
scale and that kind of global remit.
> With no formal handover process, the biggest challenge was taking a look under
> the hood to understand the company's status quo
Later on, the opportunity that I got at Smith and Nephew was also quite
exciting. It was a good turning point, and it was transformational because I got
immediate C-suite exposure at a FTSE 100 company, and I also got the benefit of
assembling and managing large teams and projects in complex projects across
multiple jurisdictions.
My experience at Smith and Nephew was also pivotal because they gave me the
opportunity to take on a senior commercial role. I was looking after the P&L for
the region over here (GCC, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) and got out of the
traditional comfort zone that I had in financial and investment management -
getting into the commercial part of the business by going into the field, and
engaging more with the doctors, customers, regulators, and sales reps, giving me
better insights into how the data and transactions that I previously used to
manage actually comes into being.
I think these two stand out most in terms of my career.
IN YOUR ROLE AS A FIRST-TIME CFO, WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE SO FAR?
With no formal handover process, the biggest challenge was taking a look under
the hood to understand the company's status quo. Eon had rapidly outgrown its
infrastructure - the physical infrastructure and the soft infrastructure like
its processes and accounting systems.
A lot of the physical and operational matters needed to catch up with Eon's
growth. The challenges that we had with that were further compounded with the
onset of Covid.
It was also difficult for me to understand the status quo of the company, which
was probably one of the most important things to get your head around when you
first join that kind of position.
I spent a lot of time doing operational deep dives, not just within the finance
function but across many other departments, because what happens in the other
departments eventually finds its way into the finance function.
So these were the biggest challenges so far.
AND WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT?
It's probably too early in the journey to look back and talk about the greatest
accomplishment per se.
But I can definitely say we've had some very pleasant wins.
> I need to enable them by ensuring they have the financial resources to do
> their work and to have effective controls in place to protect the company.
YOUR CAREER HAS INVOLVED CREATING BUDGETS, FINANCIAL PLANS, MERGERS AND
ACQUISITIONS, AND FINANCIAL STRATEGIES FOR MAJOR COMPANIES ACROSS MENA. HOW DOES
THAT EXPERIENCE DIFFER FROM YOUR CURRENT ROLE?
In terms of the planning, transactional, and strategic kind of work I currently
do at Eon, it's pretty much the same. The only difference is there's less red
tape and more freedom to operate.
With Smith and Nephew or Hikma or even at Sandoz, we were bigger organizations,
and the process would run through different layers, whether cascading upwards or
downwards.
At Eon, because we are a relatively smaller company and have smaller teams, we
can definitely be a lot more agile and nimble in terms of executing that kind of
work.
That's on the overlap with the kind of work that I used to do in the past.
Besides the planning/strategic and transactional work that I just described, I
also now need to manage that with a lot of the operational work that still needs
to happen.
In the past, I had the luxury of just focusing on the strategic and the planning
work, but now I need to oversee a lot of the operational work that happens on a
day-to-day basis. I also need to oversee the production of all the data that are
associated with, or that's a precursor to, all the planning and transactional
work.
So, the kind of work is very similar, but how it happens is definitely a lot
more complex.
A CFO TODAY IS EXPECTED TO NOT ONLY LEAD FINANCE FUNCTIONS AND MANAGE THE
FINANCIAL MATTERS AT HAND BUT ALSO WEAR MANY OPERATIONAL HATS: HR, LEGAL,
MARKETING, COMPLIANCE, AND SALES. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT LEADING & NAVIGATING THOSE
DIFFERENT AREAS AS A CFO?
My role is primarily to enable these functions. I need to enable them by
ensuring they have the financial resources to do their work and to have
effective controls in place to protect the company.
These are the two major things in terms of how I need to support these
functions.
I see it more in terms of enabling these teams.
At the end of the day, I'm very lucky to be working with some of the most
talented and motivated individuals in the industry. The team really comes
together like a family. Our CEO and our People and Culture team have done a very
good job in not only recruiting the right kind of employees but stakeholders as
well. Everyone is fully motivated, everyone takes full ownership, and everyone
at the office works like friends coming together with common interests to work
on a project. So I feel it's more like working with family and friends as
opposed to a formal kind of office environment.
It makes such a big difference because it becomes less about following up and
ensuring people are doing what they're supposed to be doing and just giving
people the space to do their work.
So, getting the right people, I think, is key, and I'm very lucky to be working
with that kind of setup, where my role is more as an enabler.
WEARING MULTIPLE HATS AS A CFO COMES HAND-IN-HAND WITH STRATEGY. SINCE JOINING
EON DENTAL IN 2021, HAVE YOU INTRODUCED NEW STRATEGIES TO HELP THE BUSINESS MOVE
FORWARD?
We have different brainstorming sessions, different ideas, and we always come up
with points where a decision needs to be made, whether it’s for operational
matters or strategic matters, and they vary in terms of their importance and
their scope.
Sometimes it could be giving solicited feedback about a specific issue, whether
negotiating with a major supplier or a customer. Or sometimes, it can be sharing
my vision or how I feel about where the business is going to be or where it
needs to be in the coming few years to help maximize shareholder value.
So, it's not about introducing a specific strategy, and all of us are running
towards it; it's more about thinking out loud on general or more specific issues
on hand.
> Expense management is a big issue, especially when you are in a high growth
> kind of setup, like Eon; high growth, high investment.
WE'VE SEEN MORE CFOS TAKING ON THE CEO ROLE OR ACTING AS INTERIM CEOS IN RECENT
YEARS. HOW CLOSELY DO YOU WORK WITH QAIS, THE CEO? AND HOW DO YOU ENSURE THAT
THE CEO-CFO RELATIONSHIP IS STRONG?
We definitely have a strong relationship in terms of how we operate - both
formally and informally.
We have formally scheduled executive leadership meetings; it's myself, the COO,
and Qais, the CEO. We have scheduled meet-ups where we meet once a week, and we
discuss operational matters, strategic matters, and general issues on hand. So
we have a placeholder for that.
We also engage many times throughout the day, and the week, through phone calls,
face-to-face meetings, and WhatsApp.
Again, I'll go back to the kind of relationship that we have; it's less about a
formal kind of relationship and more about like-minded individuals coming
together and working for a shared belief. This is how I see it.
A BIG CHALLENGE FACING MOST CFOS TODAY IS EXPENSE MANAGEMENT. IS THAT AN ISSUE
YOU’VE FACED IN YOUR CAREER? AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO TACKLE SUCH AN ISSUE?
More specifically, at Eon, yes, of course, it is a challenge.
Expense management is a big issue, especially when you are in a high growth kind
of setup, like Eon; high growth, high investment. How we deal with this is
really just a combination of instilling a sense of ownership within the team and
having a collective sense of responsibility to make sure that every dollar we
spend matters, every dollar we spend counts. And then, we couple that with
well-designed controls, policies, procedures, tools, and robust and proactive
expense management functions.
We are big on that at Eon. We just need to ensure that we are deploying our
resources in the right places at the right times.
> The purpose over here is to try to streamline our workflows as much as
> possible.
I RECENTLY READ AN INTERVIEW WITH ZENDESK’S CFO, AND HE STATES THAT “MANUAL
OPERATIONAL PROCESSES MUST BE ELIMINATED IF YOU WANT YOUR TEAM TO EXPERIENCE
FRICTIONLESS GROWTH.” HAVE YOU ADOPTED OR INTRODUCED ANY NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO
REDUCE MANUAL WORK FOR EON DENTAL’S FINANCE TEAM SINCE JOINING?
Yes, of course.
Being a med-tech company, we have the luxury of having tech and product teams
that help us automate a lot of the processes that we have. Whether it's
invoicing, bookkeeping, data entry, or data management.
So yes, we are big proponents in trying to automate as much as we can, but at
the same time, we also recognize that some issues we are not able to automate,
and we still need to rely on manual processes.
But again, to the extent possible, we do try to automate as much as possible,
whether it's relying on our in-house teams or utilizing third-party tools.
The purpose over here is to try to streamline our workflows as much as possible.
IN TODAY'S RAPIDLY EVOLVING AND UNPREDICTABLE WORLD, FINANCE TEAMS FACE THE
DAUNTING TASK OF ADAPTING TO EMERGING THREATS. THE EMERGENCE OF GROUNDBREAKING
TECHNOLOGIES LIKE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AND UNPRECEDENTED ACCESS TO DATA
PRESENT EXCITING NEW AVENUES FOR EXECUTING FINANCE STRATEGIES. HOWEVER, THESE
ADVANCEMENTS ALSO GIVE RISE TO FRESH VULNERABILITIES, INCLUDING CYBERSECURITY
THREATS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR LIMITED VISIBILITY INTO CORPORATE DATA. WHAT ARE
YOUR VIEWS ON THESE DEVELOPMENTS AND THEIR IMPACT ON FINANCE DEPARTMENTS?
Despite the challenges that come with it, I'm a big proponent of automation,
artificial intelligence, and utilizing data to the fullest extent possible. The
important part is having the intent of working towards that and having the right
systems and the right setups in place to protect that data so that you're able
to sprint then towards the automation, the AI, and the different work streams
that we're talking about.
For Eon, that challenge is compounded because not only do we have our own data
that we need to protect, but we also deal with sensitive patient data. So, we
need to be extra careful with our own data and patient data.
A lot of our customers are global, so they have very high expectations in terms
of how we manage data privacy. Even within the regional markets, the bar is
continuously raised. Saudi and the UAE are introducing laws that are specific to
data privacy, and we always need to comply with those.
Not only is it a challenge for us to protect our own data, but also to ensure
that our customer's data and patient data is also adequately protected.
So definitely, it comes with its challenges, but I think, net-net, it is
something that streamlines our operations.
> A CFO shouldn't be focusing on just bookkeeping, journal entry, and keeping
> track of data. It's looking at the data, coming up with meaningful insights,
> and using that to give advice, whether it's to the CEO, the COO, or the
> different units of the business.
WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF ARTICLES COMING OUT ABOUT HOW AI COULD BE REPLACING CERTAIN
JOBS, A FEW OF WHICH FALL INTO THE FINANCE FUNCTION. DO YOU THINK AI COULD
POTENTIALLY REPLACE THESE JOBS?
I think there will always be a necessity for a human element to it, but to the
extent possible, I'm all for automation. Especially when we talk about
repetitive tasks that, in a sense, have less value add compared to analyzing the
data. I'd much rather put the energy and resources towards analyzing and
managing the data as opposed to entering the data.
I don't see us getting to a stage where everything is completely automated. We
deal with multiple parties and multiple systems, so there's always going to be a
requirement for human intervention in terms of data, but I think the idea is to
try to minimize that to the fullest extent possible and try to put the resources
behind analyzing the data and coming out with meaningful insights on what the
data is telling us to come up with proper recommendations.
THIS IS BECOMING A MORE COMMON THEME IN THE LAST DECADE, SO HOW DO YOU SEE THE
CFO ROLE SHIFTING FROM A TRADITIONAL FINANCE FUNCTION ROLE TOWARDS MORE OF A
STRATEGIC ROLE?
One is a precursor to the other.
I don't think you can be an effective advisor/CFO without having a proper and
robust data set, whether it's from within the company or from outside the
company. So the first thing is to get that part right, get it in place, and make
it as efficient as possible.
But beyond that, a CFO shouldn't be focusing on just bookkeeping, journal entry,
and keeping track of data. It's looking at the data, coming up with meaningful
insights, and using that to give advice, whether it's to the CEO, the COO, or
the different units of the business. It's trying to maximize the value of the
company using the data that is generated from the traditional finance function.
> If I were to give one piece of advice, it would be to embrace technology to
> the fullest extent possible.
OUR CURRENT GLOBAL ECONOMIC CLIMATE IS CHARACTERIZED BY RISING INTEREST RATES
AND INFLATION. DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR FRAMING YOUR OUTLOOK AGAINST A BACKDROP
OF RISING INTEREST RATES AND INFLATION AROUND THE WORLD?
I can share from the perspective of someone within a high-growth startup.
My advice would be to make every dollar that you spend count.
Funding or access to funding is becoming more scarce, and it's becoming a lot
more expensive.
So just make sure that every dollar that you spend counts, plan conservatively,
and try to execute aggressively. Especially in this climate where funding is
becoming more difficult, try to be as conservative as possible, but obviously,
you still need to execute your plans.
Having said that, for us, I think 2023 will be a little bit of a pivotal year.
We have some exciting projects in our pipeline, and hopefully, they will
materialize towards the end of this year.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE FINANCE PROFESSIONALS IN TODAY’S MODERN AGE?
I would say it's probably going to be a reiteration of most of the things we
discussed, particularly around automation.
I think my advice to them would be to embrace it. Some people might be a little
bit averse to it, but I think that people should embrace it; it adds a lot of
value, it streamlines a lot of the workflows and enables those finance
professionals to allocate more of their time towards more value-add kind of work
streams that will definitely benefit the company.
If I were to give one piece of advice, it would be to embrace technology to the
fullest extent possible.
Finance is like the central nervous system. Everything that happens within a
company always comes back to the finance team; the good and the bad. Having
these kinds of tools will enable the finance team to become a lot more effective
in servicing the different elements of the organization or the different
departments of the organization.
11 minutes
March 1, 2023
•
Interviewed by
Leen Shami
The Evolving Role of Finance Professionals: An Interview with Poomesh Mathew
TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF, YOUR CAREER JOURNEY, AND HOW YOU ENDED UP IN THE UAE.
I grew up in India, across the country, since my parents had transferable jobs.
Professionally I've had a career for 14 years. I started with PWC in Bangalore,
moved on to EY for a brief time, and then worked for a big conglomerate called
Wipro in India. I was part of the FP&A core central team there. I built
something very innovative out there, and there it occurred to me that this is a
larger problem to be solved.Inspired by the start-up environment brewing in
India at that point, I set up my own consulting company circa about 2014. Tried
my hand at teaching at a university. I did that for about the next five years to
come. Continued with my consultancy for a few years before exiting the same to
join a Fintech called Kabbage.
Kabbage was a big FinTech lender based out of the USA. They set up their talent
center in India, and I was heading the same for the Finance function.
Unfortunately, during covid, the ops in India had to be shut down, and later the
company was acquired by American Express.
Continuing my journey with Fintech since 2020, I have been into the buy now pay
later space.Throughout the last 3 years, I've worked with companies like ZIP and
Sezzle, and that led me to my role in Tabby, which is a buy now pay later leader
in the GCC region based out of Dubai.
And that's my journey so far. That's how I got to Dubai.
> The nuances of getting culture are very critical to be successful in the
> Middle East
CAN YOU TELL US WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME A PROFESSOR AT CHRIST UNIVERSITY IN
INDIA?
Firstly there was always a passion for teaching, and secondly, the fact that I
had my own setup helped me manage time better. I was involved with a lot of L&D
in the organizations that I had worked for, and this just wings my passion.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE KEY CHALLENGES CFOS AND/OR FINANCE PROFESSIONALS FACE
IN THE UAE?
I wouldn't say challenges; these are more avenues for learning.
I worked in the USA, India, and now the Middle East. MENA region is very
peculiar, especially a place like UAE, because an average CFO here interacts
with at least four kinds of different nationalities. It could be nationality; it
could be a different culture.
The first hurdle that you had to obviously come across is communication. How
tasks are done and understood, interactions amongst colleagues, and business is
generally conducted.
The nuances of getting culture are very critical to be successful in the Middle
East because it's not just folks from UAE. Ironically, in the UAE, you'll find
more folks outside of UAE, right? And especially in finance, you would find your
bankers from a certain nationality. Your teammates are from different
nationalities. You can have language challenges. A lot of tax laws are being
evolved here. So there's always this continuous challenge of understanding the
culture bit, the language bit because of its impact on the legal regulation. So
culture is the biggest challenge, right?
The second hurdle is linguistics. When operating in this region, Arabic is a
skill set that one should have on one’s team. Right from a simple task of
reading an invoice/bill to sometimes having conversations at offices, this is an
angle to be factored in. Not so much in the UAE but of course, if you look at
the region, it would definitely have to be factored in.
Thirdly, the pace at which business is done here is phenomenal. The MENA region
is going through a change at an exceeding pace where you see a shift from
traditional businesses. But you have someone who's doing things in a traditional
email way and someone using tools like Slack. Now the pace at which you have to
shuttle between the two is quite overwhelming, right? So if you are a finance
professional or a CFO in the MENA region, you have to be prepared to deal with
both worlds, a traditional, conventional kind of world, which is, rather, I
would say, stable but static. On the other hand, there's also this dynamism and
dynamic world, which is full of energy; things are changing at a super quick
pace. Being a CFO, you have to manage both these dimensions at the same time.
Business here is conducted swiftly and extremely professionally, so you got to
be on your heels to deliver what has been promised. The laws are evolving and
mirroring one of the best in the world, so there is a lot of upkeeping to be
done.
YOU TOUCHED ON THE SUBJECT OF CULTURE A LOT, AND IT'S INTERESTING BECAUSE, IN
ONE OF MY PREVIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH A CFO, THAT WAS SPOKEN ABOUT A LOT AS ONE OF
THE MAIN CHALLENGES. SO I'D ASK YOU THE SAME QUESTION I ASKED HIM: WHAT WAS THE
BIGGEST CULTURAL DIFFERENCE WHEN YOU MOVED FROM INDIA TO THE UAE?
One cultural advantage is the adherence to rules and regulations. Both in terms
of the clarity of how, what, and when to be done and the companies following the
same was a pleasant experience. This results in lesser litigation and ambiguity.
So, if you know what you want to do, it's a great pace; you can chalk down your
points and move on.
A lot of old tradition works here because many things are understood, explained,
time-tested, and proven, and it has worked well. So, the culture to introduce
something new and getting its acceptance to the market, I feel, was a little
challenging. But once it's accepted, it's like the duck taking to water. It's
adopted very quickly. But the introduction of something new requires a little
more planning.
> You have to be as insightful and resourceful for the business because you're
> no longer viewed as part of the organization that just turns out the financial
> reports; you're far closer to the business.
IN UAE'S FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, DO FINANCE PROFESSIONALS FACE A HIGH
LEVEL OF REGULATION?
Well, that's quite an interesting question.
At least in my experience, I have seen far more regulatory environments where
you require a lot of reporting. The UAE’s financial service environment is quite
advanced, I would say, in terms of its speed of setting up something. The
clarity in what has to be followed and what has to be reported is very open. I
would say that things are extremely clear here. There's a very reduced need for
applying judgment on items because a lot of things are extremely clear.
You can take DFSA, for example, right? Take any of their regulatory reporting
requirements; it's well explained, ironing out any room for doubt; I would say,
a very advanced model. It does not require too many compliances, but the
compliance is pretty wholesome and clear in what must be done.
I think this is one of the friendliest regulators to be complying with in the
sense that you are seeking things like clarity, when, and how. So, the rules are
very well laid out.
YOU MENTIONED EARLIER THAT COMMUNICATION IS REALLY IMPORTANT FOR MODERN FINANCE
PROFESSIONALS. AND ON THE SUBJECT OF THAT, WE CAN SEE THAT THE ROLE OF THE CFO
HAS CHANGED A LOT OVER THE PAST DECADE, AND IT HAS BECOME MORE FOCUSED ON
STRATEGY. SO THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER JOURNEY, HAVE YOU INTRODUCED ANY NEW
STRATEGIES TO ANY COMPANY YOU HAVE WORKED WITH?
I would say things evolve, and finance in the industry is primarily a support
function, right? Our objective is to ensure that the business folks get what
they need when they need it.
Starting from my career back in 08, the requirement, what the business guys had
back then to today, has it changed drastically? Not so much. But the form in
which the information is consumed, has it changed? Yes.
Today, life has changed in terms of how they view data and information. There
has to be storytelling that is compelling and insightful. Since everyone is
caught up in a million things, communicating just the information is not good
enough. There has to be clarity on the why, what, and how. This strategic
thinking needs to be incorporated into any communication from a CFO.
As such, anyone who's using technology for the past one or two decades has got
so used to getting insightful information, and this is expected from every
function and finance is no exception to that. So versus let's say 20 years ago
where you could put something in Excel or put a bar in a graph chart and say,
this is what has been done. Today, people would want live data, live dashboard
reporting, and insightful suggestions, saying, okay, this is wrong; what should
we do?
For example, just see how things have changed how we do regular stuff, like
ordering food or working out. The manner in which information is consumed has
changed, and hence CFOs will need to keep up. That being said, things have to be
kept simple and effective at the same time. There is no one way of doing it, but
one should read the audience before doing so.
Today, as a finance professional, it's hard for you to say, hey, I do not know
how to handle big data. You have to scale up. You should know how to use Power
BI and Tableau and extract data from them. The proximity with which you work
with business has entirely changed. Throughout my journey, the strategy I've
adopted is changing the mindset and the attitude of the finance folks saying
that we are not a team that just churns out information, but we work closely
with the rest of the team. You have to be as insightful and resourceful for the
business because you're no longer viewed as part of the organization that just
turns out the financial reports; you're far closer to the business.
> Automation and new technologies are always there to replace or accentuate
> grunt work.
THAT ACTUALLY TAKES ME TO MY NEXT QUESTION, WHICH FOCUSES A LOT ON TECHNOLOGY.
ONE THING WE CAN SEE IN THE FINANCE WORLD IS THERE ARE TWO PERSPECTIVES ON
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND AUTOMATION. SOME WOULD SAY IT REMOVES THE DRUDGE WORK
FOR FINANCE PROFESSIONALS AND LEAVES THEM ROOM TO GENERATE VALUE IN THE COMPANY,
WHILE OTHERS MAY BELIEVE THAT IT'S REPLACING POSITIONS FOR FINANCE
PROFESSIONALS. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS?
Well, in my view, technology automation has always been there. For the past
decade, the pace at which you're adopting these has increased.
We always had ERPs or some bit of innovation or tech to assist. Now, forget
whether it replaces someone or not, if you were to ask an accountant or someone
in the finance field: what would you rather do? Would you rather do grunt work
full day or would you would wanna do something exciting? Everyone almost chooses
the word exciting, yet there are few of us who don't wanna go through the
change. So it's just the change process. Now, you have software that, let's say,
can fill up a trial balance within a second. Fair enough. But still, the
insightfulness of the finance person has not gone away.
Automation and new technologies are always there to replace or accentuate grunt
work. It makes life easier for the financial professional, but not so much for
replacing in that sense. To be honest, if the work was so replaceable, then you
shouldn't have done it in the first place. They should have had an easier thing.
The simplest example I can give is the bank and the ATM. What would you rather
do? Would you rather go to the bank and tell it and then withdraw the money in
cash, or would you prefer an ATM? So did ATMs make banks redundant? Did credit
cards make banks redundant? No. They just found different avenues. These two
help us in our work, and the finance has to cope with and match up with the
pace, and if they're able to do that, then the value extraction is immense. So
the trick is to know how to leverage it rather than be scared of it.
ON THE SAME TOPIC, DO YOU SEE ANY PARTICULAR TECHNOLOGIES TRANSFORMING FINANCE
IN THE FUTURE OR BECOMING VALUABLE TO FINANCE TEAMS?
Yeah, certainly. The talk of the town, Chat GPT. When so much autonomous
intelligence is put into a software which is able to judge basic work, right?
So just imagine a scenario there, you know, you're talking to a supplier. The
supplier just mails the quote, and the engine knows who to take the quote to,
gets the response interactively, get back to the team, and if the budget is
already fed into the engine, it knows whether to approve it, not approve it. You
don't need the finance persons group always to give us his or her consent. Take
the supplier, create the PO, and then do it.
So the autonomous auto chat bot, I feel, has a huge potential to transform the
way we view finance today. One challenge is that a lot of us try imagining the
future with the present, what we're exposed to. It need not be, right?
Back when we had the feature phone, no one really imagined how the smartphone
would transform things, but once it came, now you can't imagine. The challenges
we try imagining the future with the tools that we have. The tools will change.
The requirements will change. Any interactive chatbot, which I feel, once it has
a little more autonomous capability, would take out a lot of tasks that are
time-consuming and not so much of value add today. I don't know exactly the
technical specifics of what the technology is called, but intelligent bots would
replace a lot of non-value add tasks that humans perform today, especially in
finance.
> Business folks want simple, straightforward, actionable information they can
> work on.
ARE THERE ANY CRITICAL SKILLS YOU THINK A MODERN FINANCE PROFESSIONAL OR CFO
NEEDS TO BE SUCCESSFUL?
Yeah. Certainly.
Apart from traditional, analytical, and problem-solving skills. I think learning
and relearning, unlearning and relearning, is extremely important because every
five years, the process or the technology completely transforms itself. You must
deploy something new. Although your objectives sometimes remain the same, the
way to achieve them completely changes. Democratization of success or
democratization of technologies that is available to all. You have to transform
these tools into your process.
I think the skill is the ability to learn, know about new technology, new tools,
and how the world functions, and fuse it back into what you do. So you don't
have a large team, our process will not remain constant for 2, 3, 4, 5 years, or
decades like it used to be earlier. The critical skill would be learning and
unlearning, unlearning old things, relearning new things, and trying to fuse
them into your average day.
WE SEE A LOT OF CFOS TALKING ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION AND
STORYTELLING AS YOU PROGRESS IN YOUR FINANCE CAREER. CAN YOU TALK MORE ABOUT
THAT?
Numbers don't attract anyone or don't attract a lot of people. So you obviously
got to make things simple for others, and that's where this ability to make a
narrative and a story comes into play.
In one of my very, very early career roles, where I was building a dashboard for
business folks, one of them came up and he was like, yeah, that's fine, but what
do I do? I explained again the P&L, and he again asked, what do I do? And that's
when it kind of dawned upon me that what he's asking is that if things are bad,
what should he work on? He needs a simple message, and that's where you realize
that you should be able to tell the story.
When we're children, we grow up, and we hear stories, right? And usually, the
end of the story has a moral, that's your take home, and that's what you act
upon. When every CFO is talking about storytelling, I think what they're
referring to is this particular feature that we narrate what's happening in the
business, but at the end of the day, you give the business folks what they have
to act on. And that has to be powerful. The easiest example I always give is
your Apple watch. If you've been sitting for two hours, your Apple watch says
stand up, walk, and that's what human minds like absorbing; simple messages.
That is storytelling that finance has to align with versus number differences
and percentages.
Business folks want simple, straightforward, actionable information they can
work on. And that is easier because not everyone would have the degree to
understand a complex financial statement. It's more to do with, “hey, this is
what I need to work on, this is what I need to achieve, and that's the
storytelling scene.”
FOR OUR LAST QUESTION, DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR YOUNG FINANCE PROFESSIONALS?
One, I think young professionals are way better than when we, or at least when I
started, in terms of their exposure, curiosity, and knowledge. I would say a few
young professionals know the breadth of things, but they aren't interested in
knowing the depth of things. This is something that needs to be addressed. There
has to be a fundamental understanding of how things work and how to understand
something completely. One should avoid skimming through the surface-level
understanding.
View all
RESOURCES FOR FINANCE LEADERS
View all
9 minutes
All
Corporate Cards
November 29, 2022
•
Vlad Falin
Best Virtual Corporate Card For Business [2023]
In modern business, cash and checks have gone the way of the horse and buggy:
they’re simply too inefficient. But even their replacements – traditional
payment methods like debit and credit cards – are overdue for an upgrade.
Welcome virtual corporate cards.
These digital payment methods offer numerous perks, from faster payments and
reconciliation to greater control and security. They’re quicker, safer, and
easier to integrate and use for accounting and operational teams alike.
Plus, the industry is on the cusp of an explosion, which could send innovation
through the stratosphere. Between 2021 and 2026 alone, virtual card spending is
predicted to skyrocket from $1.9 trillion to $6.8 trillion.
Here’s what to know.
FIRST, A BRIEF REFRESHER ON CORPORATE CARDS
Corporate credit cards are credit cards issued to a business entity – not a
person – as the responsible party.
In most other respects, corporate cards are like regular credit cards. They
require a credit check to apply, charge a regular interest rate, and even come
with reward systems. Corporate purchase cards are also unique in that the
business can issue dozens of employee cards on the same account.
Pluto corporate cards come with specific controls to help your business manage
spend. Real time tracking, setting limits on the go and quick reconciliations
are just a few of the things that Pluto can provide.
But there is more. For companies who need to act quickly and require flexibility
in their card issuing, there are virtual cards.
WHAT IS A VIRTUAL CORPORATE CARD?
Virtual corporate cards, like regular corporate cards, are linked to the
business’ budget. Employees can use these cards to pay for business expenses
without using their own personal cards or cash.
But unlike physical cards, virtual credit cards reside solely in the digital
realm. These cards are essentially unique, digitally-generated 16-digit card
numbers that tie to a specific spending account. (In this case, the business’
account.) Each virtual card contains other essential card details, too, like the
following:
* Cardholder’s name
* Company’s billing address
* Card number
* Expiration date
* CVV
Virtual cards are also unusual in that they can be generated and destroyed in
moments. They can be designed to permit one-off charges, expire same-day, or
hold only a specific dollar amount. Some virtual cards can even be linked to a
particular vendor for one-time or recurring payments, perhaps with weekly or
monthly spend limits.
Virtual cards can be accepted anywhere that online payments, and even some
in-store payments, are accepted. Due to their ability to generate new numbers on
demand, they offer additional security and control for business accounts. Plus,
they can’t be lost or stolen like a regular credit card.
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VIRTUAL CREDIT CARD VS. VIRTUAL CORPORATE CARD
A virtual corporate card is simply a digital credit card issued to a
corporation. For the most part, you can use virtual cards the same way you could
use regular cards. However, like corporate cards, these virtual equivalents
allow the issuing firm and receiving businesses to set particular spend and
monitoring controls.
Because virtual credit cards are 100% digital and able to generate new 16-digit
numbers on demand, they’re optimized for safety and flexibility. They also make
it easier to reconcile books and otherwise manage spending.
WHY USE PLUTO VIRTUAL CORPORATE CARDS?
Pluto virtual cards offer tons of perks and use cases. With more control and yet
unparalleled flexibility, your business can remain nimble as you grow.
At the same time, department heads can keep an eye on expenses, spending, and
accounting practices.
FLEXIBLE SETUP AND SPENDING
Modern companies need to be nimble, able to make purchases on the fly and
reconcile their books in minutes, not days. Virtual cards let your business do
so –without breaking their budgets.
Virtual cards provide unprecedented levels of flexibility to businesses of all
sizes. After signing up, cards can be generated and issued to individuals with
just a few clicks.
They also permit companies to limit available vendors, set a specific spending
limit, expiration dates, and even the specific department budget the card should
link to.
UNLIMITED CARDS
One of the biggest perks of Pluto's cards is that you can create as many as you
need in a matter of seconds.
The times when an employee had to wait several days for the approvals and the
card details to arrive are over.
For example - at 9:00, we had a team discussion about additional performance
marketing activities.hile we were on the call, the department head created 3
virtual corporate card numbers for us to use.
It took him roughly 2 minutes to create them. All that without missing a beat on
the call itself.
Right after we finished the call, we could start setting up ads.
SPEND CONTROL
Once you’ve generated a card – either for your team or by employee request – you
can quickly personalize them for added constraint.
These controls are admittedly extensive, allowing your business to:
* Lock cards to a particular merchant or vendor
* Ensure cards can only pay to specific accounts
* Generate cards with set one-time, monthly, or recurring expenditure limits
* Institute purchase approval practices for individual cards, persons, or teams
Companies can use these various limits to prevent overspending, surprise fees,
and unnecessary surcharges. Plus, with specific cards linked to individual
employees or vendors, compartmentalized spend management becomes even easier.
For many businesses, this is a welcome alternative to issuing high-limit cards
to every employee that requires one.
In the example above, you can see one of the popular uses of Pluto virtual cards
- employee benefits.
When a new employee joins, how much time does it usually take your HR department
to get wellness or children's educational benefits to that employee?
With Pluto, it’ll take you leess than 2 minutes.
HIGHER ACCOUNTABILITY
Another perk of virtual cards is that they can be generated for and linked to a
single individual or team.
That makes purchase tracking easier, which increases personal and departmental
accountability.
By using built-in accountability and analysis tools, your business can better
track how and when money is spent at every level.
STREAMLINED ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
Enhance your finance team's efficiency with Pluto, featuring virtual corporate
cards and integrated accounts payable software. Pluto can integrate with your
accounting software, making it easy to sync your chart of accounts, automate
mapping your GL accounts, and bulk verify & export your expenses so you can
close your books 10x faster.
From there, settlements can happen immediately rather than taking days or weeks.
This eliminates the slow, potentially error-riddled manual accounting process
with a faster, cheaper, and more efficient digital alternative.
BETTER SECURITY
Pluto's virtual cards can help greatly reduce your overall card risk profile.
Their increased security is due to their unique design, including their:
* Digital nature, which precludes them from being physically stolen.
* Set spending limits to prevent overcharging.
* Ability to block vendors and retailers from storing personal or card
information long-term, helping to prevent fraud
* Ability to include one-time or vendor-specific expenditures and other
spending controls, limiting financial hemorrhaging
* Auto-lock features to freeze cards instantly
* Ability to delete and regenerate virtual cards in seconds rather than days
REAL-TIME REPORTING
Pluto's virtual cards feed their data directly into a centralized interface,
allowing all data to show up in real-time reports, simplifying the analytical
process. The spend management systems also offer real-time notifications.
Together, these features offer companies greater real-time visibility over their
expenditures. This level of transparency can inculcate a healthier spending
culture within a company beyond merely increasing accountability.
Plus, real-time reporting means that accounting teams and department heads can
immediately respond to budget requests, verify receipts, and manage card limits.
Pluto expense management dashboard allows you to see everything and makes spend
control a breeze.
SIMPLE RECONCILIATION
Virtual credit cards provide an easy approval system to allow finance teams to
take advantage of automatic reconciliations whenever possible.
Accounting teams can set codes for recurring transactions and tag controls to
identify transactions before posting them to the general ledger. Each card can
be linked to a specific employee to link specific transactions to each
employee.
With the right card and accounting integrations, it’s possible to automate the
bulk of manual data entry and reconciliation out of the gate. Plus, you’ll
increase the accuracy of your data and insights.
EFFICIENT VENDOR PAYMENT AND MANAGEMENT
You can also use virtual cards to simplify vendor management.
You can link specific cards to particular vendors, allowing you to track which
teams use them regularly and how their prices change over time.
By setting limits and expiration dates to your specifications, you can prevent
teams from “forgetting” about upcoming auto-renewals.
REWARD OPTIONS
Pluto virtual corporate card offers a wide range of perks and benefits!
Instead of giving you Starbucks gift cards, we formed partnerships with some of
the most critical services for the day-to-day operations of your business.
REDUCE THE RISK OF FRAUD
When multiple employees and vendors share a high-limit physical card, you run
the risk of operational problems and fraud.
The more people who can access a single 16-digit number, the more likely
unauthorized expenses can slip through the cracks.
Virtual credit cards don’t come with the same fraud and data loss risks that
physical cards do.
* They’re impervious to hacks that come with swiping physical cards at
in-person terminals.
* You can create cards for a particular purchase, vendor or project.
* You can easily link cards to specific employees and/or vendors, offering full
control while minimizing risk.
VIRTUAL CORPORATE CARD USE CASES
Due to their innate flexibility and unprecedented control, virtual credit card
programs offer multiple potential use cases. There are too many to go over here
– but we’ll address a few of the most common or impactful.
AGENCIES
Digital agencies need to be able to make payments on behalf of their clients.
This can be done using virtual cards, which allows the agency to keep track of
spending and ensures that funds are used for the intended purpose.
With Pluto, you can create virtual cards for every PPC campaign or bigger
project and keep track of your agency's spending in one place.
Not only does this allow you to scale the clients' performance marketing
efforts, but the spend control dashboard shows you exactly how much was spent.
You can go as far as naming and tagging your virtual cards, so you can see how
much was spent per PPC channel on individual clients.
EVENT ORGANIZERS
Catering, lights, music, production, venues, drivers so many things that even
organizers have to keep in the air! If you are an event organizer, chances are
you understand how important it is to keep your spending in one place. That way
when the time comes to file taxes or show ROI, everything is itemized and
accounted for.
With a virtual card, all your charges will be automatically filed under the
right categories. You can also set limits on how much can be spent per vendor,
so you don't have to worry about overspending.
And if you have a team working on the event with you, you can give them each
their own virtual Pluto card (or physical) with their own spending limits. That
way, you can see at a glance who is spending what and where.
STARTUPS
When you are a startup, your want to fully focus on your product and leave the
rest to someone else. With a virtual card, you don't have to worry about setting
up a corporate credit line or dealing with complex expense reports.
Just set up your team with Pluto virtual cards and let them manage their own
expenses. You can see what they are spending in real-time and track progress
against your budget.
Also, when you are at your early phase, there is no time for lengthy approvals.
SaaS, ads, tools, plugins - virtual card can service them all.
E-COMMERCE
You business is digital and so should be your payment tools. With a virtual
card, you can make payments online without ever having to worry about the
security of your information.
Worried about that Alibaba supplier? Create a virtual card with a limit just for
that vendor and you're good to go. Put a spending limit on it, and you limited
any potential risks as well.
* Need your team to buy TikTok ads? -> Done. TikTok Ads Virtual Card
* Need to pay an Upwork freelancer? -> Done. Upwork Specific Virtual Card
You see where we are going with this. Create as many virtual cards as you need
for as many occasions as you need.
CONSULTING
Consultants are on the road most of the time, and when they are not - they are
seated in the client premises, helping to grow the business.
Employee travel is one of the most commonly-cited reasons for individuals
requiring their own corporate cards. Travel expenses may include hotel rooms, a
food allowance, or additional budgeting to purchase essential materials while
they’re away from home, so to speak.
However, even in your own teams, it’s possible for employees to get carried
away. An expensive dinner, unexpected expenses, and hotel room upgrades may all
be well within your budget. But if you want to prevent excessive spending on
your dime, virtual card controls hand you that power.
Fleet Management
Any company that have a vehicle fleet knows that a lot of time can go into fuel
cards management.
Pluto can provide both virtual and physical corporate cards which makes it a
perfect solution for efficient fleet management.
You can issue fuel cards to the drivers as needed, and scale up and down
depending on the current business situation.
In addition to that you see the fuel expenses real-time and can set limits and
approvals where required.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
* Virtual corporate credit cards pave the way for the future while addressing a
multitude of modern business pain points.
* They hand companies greater control over their spending, simplify accounting
across the board, and even help protect employees.
* Plus, with so many nuances and use cases, it’s incredibly easy to personalize
virtual cards to meet your unique needs.
5 minutes
All
Spend Management
October 13, 2022
•
Leen Shami
How to Take Control of your Employee’s Fuel Reimbursements
Many companies require in-person meetings, site visits, or attending events.
Whatever the business-related travel may be, fuel reimbursement comes into the
picture.
WHAT IS FUEL REIMBURSEMENT?
In a nutshell, fuel reimbursement is when an employer reimburses you for the
cost of fuel used for business purposes.
While other countries may consider this a travel expense or a mileage
reimbursement, the UAE considers this a 'fuel reimbursement.'
WHY DID REIMBURSING TRAVEL EXPENSES GROW?
In a post-pandemic world, where many companies are going back to the norm of
office work, it is common for travel reimbursement costs to increase.
The mileage reimbursement rate has risen with regular office hours, more
in-person meetings, and less remote work. But that's not the only reason.
Due to the surge in fuel costs globally, it's no surprise that consumers are
becoming more aware of their travel expenses.
The UAE alone has seen a significant spike of 74% in fuel prices and petrol
prices over the last 7 months, indicating that reimbursing travel expenses grew.
Subsequently, UAE companies have seen a 38% increase in fuel reimbursements and
travel reimbursement requests from their employees. Inflation alongside a
post-pandemic world, fuel reimbursement expenses have become the most requested
reimbursement category in the UAE.
A study by Bayzat has shown that fuel is among the most requested reimbursements
category for UAE employees, with an increase of 18% in the average amount per
reimbursement since January.
This indicates that companies and employees have spent more time managing and
filing fuel reimbursement expenses.
Unsurprisingly, the cost of average travel reimbursements has increased with the
significant spike in fuel prices and petrol prices these past few months.
With Pluto's corporate cards, companies can wave goodbye to everyday fuel
reimbursement expenses' pain points by issuing their employees fuel cards to
keep track of their fuel expenses and travel reimbursement costs.
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WHY USE PLUTO FUEL CARDS FOR FUEL REIMBURSEMENT?
There are many advantages to using Pluto fuel cards for business travel
expenses:
CREATE UNLIMITED FUEL CARDS
Create and distribute as many virtual or physical fuel cards as needed for your
employees, so you won't have to worry about travel expenses, mileage
reimbursement requests, or having to reimburse employees.
Create Fuel Cards on Pluto's Platform
SET LIMITS ON FUEL CARDS
Create fuel cards for employees with daily, weekly, or monthly spending limits
to keep track of employees' fuel expenses.
Set Custom Limits on Fuel Cards
TRACK FUEL EXPENSES IN REAL-TIME
Real-time Transactional Data
It's essential to keep track of what is being spent and where. With Pluto, you
can:
* Get notified as soon as a fuel expense is made so you know who spends what,
where, and when.
* Keep track of average travel reimbursements' costs, travel expenses, and
employee expenditure data to avoid going over budget on fuel expenses.
No more end-of-month expense reports on fuel!
DIGITIZED RECEIPT RECONCILIATION
Whether your employees are using personal vehicles or company vehicles, they can
simply make a transaction with their personal card, snap a picture of the
receipt and upload it to the Pluto dashboard for fuel reimbursement.
Alternatively, UAE companies can issue their employees virtual or physical
cards, and the receipt can be attached to the business expense by dragging and
dropping it onto the Pluto dashboard.
No more searching through piles of paper receipts!
FILL UP YOUR TANK ANYWHERE
Once you issue your UAE employees a virtual or physical fuel card, they can use
it at any gas station in the UAE for business travel expenses.
While requested reimbursements for fuel expenses grew over five-fold over the
past couple of years, there is a solution to make CFOs' and finance teams' lives
easier; Pluto Card.
With Pluto, finance teams have an all-in-one integrated platform for fuel
reimbursements, budget & spend control for business travel expenses, and fuel
receipt reconciliation.
FUEL REIMBURSEMENT VS. MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT
When looking for information about fuel reimbursement, another term that you may
stumble on frequently is mileage reimbursement. While they are similar and
sometimes interchangeable, they are not the same.
WHAT IS MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT?
Mileage reimbursement refers to the practice of reimbursing employees for
business-related travel expenses.
While it accounts for fuel, it also considers lease, vehicle depreciation, and
other car-related expenses. This type of reimbursement is usually given per mile
driven.
In some countries, mileage reimbursement refers to accounting rules and
categories that help standardize expenses.
WHAT IS FUEL REIMBURSEMENT?
Fuel reimbursement, on the other hand, only covers the cost of fuel used for
business travel. It doesn't take into consideration any other car-related
expenses. This type of reimbursement is usually given based on receipts.
The difference between fuel reimbursement and mileage reimbursement is that
mileage reimbursement takes into account all car-related expenses, while fuel
reimbursement only covers the fuel cost.
HOW DOES FUEL REIMBURSEMENT WORK?
If you use your car for business purposes, you can be reimbursed for the fuel
costs incurred. The reimbursement is usually calculated based on the number of
kilometers traveled or miles driven.
However, to qualify for fuel reimbursement, you will need to keep accurate
records of your travel expenses. This includes maintaining a logbook of your
travels and keeping receipts for all fuel purchases.
To ensure that employees are reimbursed correctly, they need a receipt and an
accurate logbook. Fuel and travel expenses can be included as costs, but you
must show all travel logs if necessary.
WHAT COUNTS AS BUSINESS-RELATED FUEL REIMBURSEMENTS?
Here are some examples of obvious and less obvious fuel expenses that you can
get reimbursed for when you are an employee:
* Traveling for a client meeting;
* Driving to pick up anything on behalf of the company;
* Driving to the airport to pick up a client or a colleague;
* Going to another city for a business-related event;
Anything done to advance the business, big or small, is business related.
IS COMMUTING TO WORK A BUSINESS-RELATED EXPENSE?
While some big corporations may reimburse you for commuting to and from work,
typically, commuting is not considered a business expense.
WHAT TO TRACK FOR FUEL REIMBURSEMENT?
Keeping a gas log is one of the best ways to ensure employees are correctly
reimbursed while companies have a clear overview of their travel expenses.
Last but not least, when you put fuel reimbursements into your profit and loss
statement to apply them as costs (which you should), you must have a detailed
log of travels - in case the tax authority wants a record.
Here is the main employee expenditure data that you should store in your fuel
reimbursement logbook:
* Date of each journey
* Start time and end time of driving.
* Purpose of the trip.
* Kilometers driven.
If a company provides employees with company cars, this is all. But, if you're
filing for fuel reimbursement while traveling with your personal vehicle, you
will have to provide the following:
* Brand of the car and the year it was made.
* Average fuel consumption as per the car documentation.
* Engine size or engine capacity.
* Copy of car technical documentation.
DOES AN EMPLOYER HAVE TO PAY FOR FUEL?
Most companies reimburse fuel expenses for employees who need to travel for
business, but there might be some limitations. For example, a company may ask
you to use its corporate Careem account for business travel.
Typically, if you incur the cost of fuel, your company will reimburse you as it
is a cost tightly associated with the business.
IS FUEL REIMBURSEMENT TAX DEDUCTIBLE?
A massive shift for UAE companies will be the introduction of corporate taxes in
2023. With a corporate tax rate of 9%, UAE companies must keep track of all
their spending. Fuel reimbursements fall under that category, as they can help
reduce the amount of taxable income that a company has.
If you have a fuel reimbursement policy in place, it will help ensure that all
of your employees are mindful of their spending on fuel and that they only claim
back what they have spent.
Pluto allows UAE companies to issue unlimited fuel cards while centralizing the
expense in one dashboard, so you can see in real-time how much is being spent
and the number of tax-deductible costs your employees are making.
9 minutes
All
Corporate Cards
October 10, 2022
•
Leen Shami
Corporate vs. Business Credit Card: What is the Difference?
Corporate credit card vs. a business credit card. You might have heard both
terms used interchangeably, but what's the difference?
Primarily, corporate cards are issued to large businesses with many employees,
while business credit cards are designed for smaller businesses. Corporate cards
generally have higher spending limits and may offer more perks than business
cards due to their volume.
This post will cover the main differences so you can decide which card is best
for your business.
WHAT IS A BUSINESS CREDIT CARD?
A business credit card is a commercial payment solution for companies and
businesses. Similar to a personal credit card, business credit cards are used
when business-related purchases are made on credit provided by one of the credit
card companies.
Banks in the UAE and MENA offer various business credit cards for small, medium,
and large companies.
Business credit cards usually offer higher credit limits than personal credit
cards and may come with exclusive privileges, such as free travel insurance,
concierge services, and air miles.
In the case of small businesses, a personal credit score will play an important
role in credit limit approval.
WHAT IS A CORPORATE CREDIT CARD?
A corporate credit card is issued to company employees to help with business
expenses. The company will be liable for any debts incurred on the card.
It is important to note that corporate cards are not personal credit cards and
should only be used for business purposes.
Financial institutions expect you to spend more with a corporate card than a
business card, as the companies that require those cards are usually bigger.
Therefore, the company must have a good credit score to qualify. This can come
with various perks, such as lower interest rates, extended grace periods, and,
most importantly - higher spending limits.
At the same time, there can be some drawbacks, such as:
* Long approval periods due to the nature of the financial product.
* Limited online features for your cards and company spend management.
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WHAT IS A PLUTO CARD?
Pluto Card is MENA's corporate card that helps finance teams take control of
their company's expenses while saving their business time & money. While Pluto
can't give you a line of credit, you will be able to instantly issue as many
business and corporate cards as you need while getting a complete overview of
your business's spend management on one dashboard.
Pluto Virtual & Physical Corporate Cards
VIRTUAL CREDIT CARDS
Virtual cards are corporate credit card numbers used for online business-related
purchases and contactless payments.
Although there is no physical card, virtual credit cards are great as they are
flexible, convenient, and controllable.
With virtual credit cards, you can:
* Issue unlimited virtual credit cards/employee cards;
* Create a virtual credit card within seconds;
* Set employee spending limits to avoid going over budget;
* Generate a one-time use purchase card that deactivates as soon as it is used;
* Set purchases to be made with specific vendors so the card can't be used for
other purchases;
Chances are that if you need a virtual credit card at your existing bank, it
might take quite some time, and the reporting and limit setting options might
not be very user-friendly.
While Pluto cannot provide you with credit cards, we can issue as many virtual
cards as you need with just a few clicks:
PHYSICAL CREDIT CARDS
Physical corporate credit cards serve the same purpose as virtual and business
credit cards, making payments. Unlike virtual cards, physical corporate credit
cards can be used in person to make purchases.
While both virtual and physical credit cards are comparable, the main
differences are:
* Physical corporate credit cards may take up to 3 business days to be
delivered.
* Virtual cards cannot be used physically.
* Virtual cards are safer for the user, as they cannot be lost or stolen.
BENEFITS AND PERKS
The benefits and perks differ for business and corporate credit cards and Pluto
cards.
BUSINESS & CORPORATE CREDIT CARDS:
* Receive Business reward points for purchases made that can be redeemed for
future purchases.
PLUTO CARDS:
* Gain access to over $35,000 in perks and rewards programs
Pluto Corporate Card Perks
WHY ARE BUSINESS CREDIT CARDS AND CORPORATE CREDIT CARDS DIFFERENT?
Now you know the main difference between business and corporate cards, but let's
investigate some of them in more detail.
EXPENSE MANAGEMENT TOOLS
Business credit cards are frequently limited to your online banking platform. In
the case of corporate credit cards, you may get something slightly better - an
enterprise solution.
But from what we have seen, the speed of card issuing or limit changes is
usually lacking.
Pluto doesn't give you a credit line, but here is a list of things that Pluto's
expense management platform does:
* Unlimited corporate cards (within seconds);
* Set spending limits on corporate cards to avoid going over budget or being
overcharged;
* Issue one-time purchase cards that deactivate after being used;
* Real-time transactional data - know what (and where) is being spent in
real-time;
* Ability to oversee company financials and receive instantaneous expense
reports;
* Automated accounting;
* Sync transactional data to major accounting platforms;
* Simple and quick reimbursements;
* Digitized receipt reconciliation;
* Close books in hours, not days.
CORPORATE AND BUSINESS CARD FEES
The fees that you might have to pay on corporate and business cards fall into
two main categories:
ANNUAL FEES
For business and corporate credit cards, annual fees may differ depending on the
bank or credit card issuer you choose to move forward with. Typically, the UAE's
yearly fees range from 0-800 AED, with 'free for life' being the most popular.
If there are any fees, you can typically waive them by spending a certain amount
per year.
Pluto cards do not have any annual fees and are entirely free; however, if
you're a large corporation that wants unlimited users, custom ERP integrations,
or a dedicated account manager, there will be a monthly subscription fee.
FX FEES
Business and corporate credit cards tend to incur FX fees, making it expensive
for a company owner, a small business, or a large business to do any
transactions outside their domestic currency.
FX fees can be high, and credit card issuers are usually not transparent with
the fees that come with them. Typically, fees come in the form of an FX spread
and are hidden inside your payment, meaning you might be paying 2-6% for a
transaction in a different currency.
Just imagine how much of your spending is in a different currency and take an
optimistic 4% fee from that amount. Now multiply it by five years.
Pluto does not charge FX fees, making it the perfect choice for companies or
businesses that frequently transact in foreign currencies.
APPLICATION & APPROVAL PROCESS
You must wait around two weeks for a business credit card approval. After the
approval process, it may take up to 10 business days to receive your business
credit card.
With a corporate credit card, the time may vary, but the chances are that you
will need to wait more than 5 business days before you get approved.
From our experience, when you need an expense card - you need it on the spot!
Pluto has adopted a KYB & KYC (know your business and client) process that
allows us to onboard customers in minutes. After you set up your account, you
can start issuing virtual cards and continue your work without halts or
limitations.
CORPORATE VS. BUSINESS CREDIT CARDS PROS AND CONS
While a corporate credit card and a business credit card may be comparable in
some aspects, there are some differences between the two financial products.
BUSINESS CREDIT CARD PROS
* Available for most businesses in their standard banking products;
* Standard application process with low business requirements;
BUSINESS CREDIT CARD CONS
* Usually limited in numbers, one card is internally shared amongst many
employees. That creates bottlenecks in spending and raises various security
risks;
* Non-existent (or very limited) spend management platforms to monitor your
reporting;
* No virtual cards;
* High FX fees;
CORPORATE CREDIT CARD PROS
* Higher spending limits;
* Possibility to issue several cards;
* Safe & secure, as information is not being shared;
CORPORATE CREDIT CARD CONS
* Longer approval process;
* High FX fees;
While the pros and cons for both types of cards may vary, the final decision
will be based on the size of your business.
WHY PICK PLUTO CARD FOR BUSINESS AND CORPORATE USERS?
As mentioned, Pluto won't give you a line of credit; instead, Pluto provides you
with an all-in-one expense management solution.
PLUTO'S SPEND MANAGEMENT PLATFORM
* All your business expenses are at your reach on Pluto's dashboard;
* Control over all issued cards and their limits;
* Creation of unlimited virtual cards;
* Real-time expense reporting;
Pluto's Dashboard
APPROVAL WORKFLOW ON PLUTO
Once you have access to Pluto's expense management dashboard, you'll also be
able to set up approval flows and automation.
With Pluto's approval workflow, you can:
* Get visibility and control over your expenses;
* Streamline how you manage your spending;
* Automatically direct approvals to the right employees;
* Create approval flows within departments;
Pluto Card Approval Workflow
REAL-TIME EXPENSE REPORTS
With Pluto cards, you'll gain real-time transactional data on company spending
while being able to set strict budget limits.
This will also help you make informed decisions about allocating resources and
improving your P&L.
Additionally, you can also set up notifications to be sent to your accounting or
finance team whenever a transaction is made. This way, they'll always be in the
loop and can take appropriate action if needed.
WHICH CARD IS BEST FOR MY BUSINESS?
The final pick of the card will depend on several factors related to your
business.
INDUSTRY
The needs of companies based on their industries may differ. Consulting
businesses need a flexible card solution with no FX fees, as their employees
travel frequently. Digital agencies need multiple virtual cards to onboard new
projects and pay for ad networks daily.
Consider the needs relevant to your industry and decide from there. While Pluto
is an excellent pick for all industries (as we have a very versatile product),
here are some of the use cases that illustrate the needs and how Pluto solves
them:
* Agencies
* Startups
* Consulting
* E-Commerce
* Logistics
SIZE
Annual revenue, the number of employees, and spending volume will also come into
play when making your decision.
If it is just you or a couple of employees, you may not need many cards (or you
might take advantage of Pluto's virtual cards).
On the other hand, if you have a sales team that needs to pay for lunches with
prospects every second day, one card in the business owner's name will be
problematic!
CONTROL
How much control do you need over your spending? Classic credit cards (be it
business or corporate) usually have just a few features that are extensions of
your online banking.
In some cases, that might be enough. If there is one card and one person using
it - setting limits and monitoring the spending is not an issue.
Pluto comes into play when you have several holders and many cards, as you can
set custom limits on cards. Real-time reports of spending suddenly become very
important to increase and decrease limits on the go.
Pluto Corporate Card Budget Control
KEY TAKEAWAYS
* Business credit card is the best fit for small business owners; they offer a
standardized solution.
* Corporate credit cards are for bigger companies, allowing higher spending and
slightly better control.
* Pluto cards (used for all business sizes) can provide unlimited virtual cards
and give you access to an all-in-one expense management platform.
FAQ
DOES A CORPORATE CREDIT CARD AFFECT MY CREDIT SCORE?
A corporate card is a company's liability and does not affect your credit score,
and you will not see them on your personal credit report. Pluto cards do not
affect your credit score in any way (as they do not provide loans or credit
facilities).
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BUSINESS AND A CORPORATE CREDIT CARD?
The main difference between small business credit cards is the size of the
company that uses them, followed by credit limits and available control
features. Pluto provides cards to corporations and businesses through the
all-in-one spend management platform.
WHAT IS MEANT BY A CORPORATE CREDIT CARD?
A corporate credit card refers to a card provided by the company to the employee
for various business-related expenses.
IS A CORPORATE CARD THE SAME AS A CREDIT CARD?
Credit cards primarily draw from an approved loan balance, while corporate card
programs are just an extension to a dedicated corporate account. But the terms
are used interchangeably nowadays.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CORPORATE AND DOMESTIC CREDIT CARDS?
A domestic card may refer to a debit card or a card issued by your local bank
for your local use. Corporate cards are accepted internationally, at the ATM, or
online.
CAN A CORPORATE CARD BE USED FOR PERSONAL USE?
No. By default, corporate cards have to be used for business expenses, which are
reported into accounting, but most importantly, it is the company's money on
that card. The only exception will be if your company allows it.
WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF A CORPORATE CREDIT CARD?
Usually, it comes down to higher spending limiting. Compared to small business
credit cards, corporate credit card debt does not usually require a personal
guarantee, as the company guarantees it.
In the case of Pluto's corporate card, we can also add - unlimited virtual
cards, real-time team-wide spend control, instantaneous reporting, and no FX
fees!
DOES A CORPORATE CREDIT CARD AFFECT MY CREDIT SCORE?
No. If the corporate credit card has a credit facility attached to it (it
usually does), it is a company liability, not a personal liability. You are
given access to a portion of their credit facility that does not fall into the
personal loans group, and you do not need to provide personal guarantees.
CAN MY COMPANY REQUIRE ME TO PUT BUSINESS TRAVEL ON MY OWN CREDIT CARD?
No, the company cannot force you to put business expenses on your credit card,
but it is sometimes easier for everyone. So, if you agree with that, and the
company agrees to reimburse you - it is not a problem.
If you are looking for a better solution, let the Pluto team know, and we will
provide you with an easy corporate card platform for your whole team.
DO CORPORATE CREDIT CARDS REQUIRE A CREDIT CHECK?
A corporate credit card (in its classical meaning) is attached to a loan
facility. To approve this loan facility, banks must do a company credit check.
8 minutes
All
Corporate Cards
October 5, 2022
•
Vlad Falin
Corporate Card Management: Guide for 2023
The realities of the modern business world require companies to keep a tight
hold on their spend management.
We’re not just talking about how you track expenses or reconcile your debts;
that’s basic stuff. No, we’re talking about the entire process, from deciding
who has the spend rights to analyzing how business spending affects your cash
flow and taxes.
The more your business expands, the more crucial (and complex) your expense
management process becomes. Spending analysis allows you to correct imbalances,
watch for fraud and employee theft, and prepare for regulatory filings.
However, it’s also a cumbersome, time-consuming process that, without the use of
the proper platform, requires quite a bit of man-hours to complete.
Modern spend and card management needs to be more sophisticated, intuitive, and
built on the needs of finance teams, accountants, CFOs, owners, and employees!
That’s why, at Pluto, we firmly believe in the power of proper corporate card
management. Establishing clear policies, outlining appropriate spending limits,
and designing airtight analysis protocols can keep your finances in check.
MODERN CORPORATE CREDIT CARD PROGRAMS
Traditionally, businesses relied on employee reimbursement for out-of-pocket
expenses to facilitate team and department spending. While using employees to
frontload business costs helps with float, it also creates potential hardships
and liabilities.
Moreover, the process of submitting, reimbursing, and properly cataloging
expenses is grotesquely time-consuming for your finance team.
In part, corporate credit cards were designed to take the pressure off corporate
finance teams. They make expense management easier, simplify spending
procedures, and digitize the bulk of your spending.
Managing corporate credit cards can get quite complex. Adding new cardholders,
suspending or closing accounts, or untangling business and personal expenses
could take hours of paperwork and phone calls.
But it does not have to be like that. At Pluto, we leveraged our corporate
experience, had countless talks with our users, and came up with solutions to
every bottleneck of card management.
ON-DEMAND CORPORATE CARDS
For employees to be able to make business expenses, they will need a corporate p
card. In our day and age, most of their spending will be online.
Pluto provides you with an unlimited number of virtual cards that can be easily
issued right from the dashboard.
If a physical card is needed, you will go through the same simple process, and
the card will be delivered to you in just a couple of days.
RECEIPT CAPTURE AND EXPENSE TRACKING
Corporate credit cards feed your business expenses into a centralized monthly
report. With Pluto, submitting a receipt is as easy as taking a picture with
your phone, literally.
When the expense is submitted, it is immediately reflected in the account
report.
These reports provide each department head and finance team with the visibility
needed to:
* Link credit card transactions to the right employee
* Crackdown on overspending
* Maintain business-wide cashflows
* Maximize efficiency
With Pluto, you can easily filter through various expenses, check which expenses
are still pending, and see the details of that particular spending team-wide.
INCREASED FLEXIBILITY
Corporate cards also provide businesses with the flexibility to take the
approach that suits their needs. For instance, your business may assign
corporate cards only to key employees and management or traveling employees.
Workers who make only occasional purchases can use Pluto virtual or pre-loaded
cards with one-time or limited spend codes.
ULTIMATELY: MORE CONTROL
Aside from these perks, company credit cards allow you to maximize your data
collection and improve your analytics.
You can use this information to curb unnecessary spending, generate insights,
and even negotiate better rates with vendors.
But without a proper corporate card management program in place, it’s all too
easy for the system to turn upside-down.
WHAT IS CORPORATE CARD MANAGEMENT, AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
A corporate card management platform allows business leaders to proactively
wrangle company expenditure concerns from multiple fronts.
But to keep everything running smoothly, you also need a well-designed corporate
card policy that ensures you are not limiting employees in their work while you
are tracking the expenses.
Using corporate cards for operational expenses allows your team to work more
efficiently—no more complicated approval processes when buying an online
subscription or plane tickets.
But to achieve the balance between flexibility and control, you must have a
corporate card management policy. Good corporate card programs:
* Outline rules for use, such as where and how much employees may spend.
* Capitalize on issuer-provided controls to set spending limits.
* Monitor and analyze employee cash flow to minimize inefficiencies.
* Are quick to catch or counteract employee or outside fraud.
* Simplify real-time expense reporting.
* Save time and money by reducing or eliminating physical paperwork.
Above all, a responsible management program frees up resources, putting money
back on your balance sheet.
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BEST PRACTICES FOR EFFICIENT CORPORATE CREDIT CARD MANAGEMENT
The key to managing corporate cards successfully is setting expectations,
communicating responsibilities, and setting controls for employee and employer
accountability.
Whether you set card limits, lock and unlock cards, issue virtual cards, or code
and track expenditures daily is up to you.
Just as long as you design a system that balances control and comfort.
SET UP A CORPORATE CARD POLICY
Your company policy should:
* Set expectations and communicate cardholder responsibilities
* Lay out eligibility requirements to receive a card
* Set spend limits for teams, departments, or specific expenditures
* Outline the process for submitting receipts
* Establish clear review and penalty processes for violating these rules
Written properly, your policy should ensure everyone understands their rights
and responsibilities.
DECIDE WHICH EMPLOYEES WILL GET CARDS
One of the most important components of managing your corporate cards is
deciding who receives them.
At first, you may want to stick with assigning cards to upper-level management
or department heads. But as your business grows, you may enact policies to
permit other employees to receive cards conditionally or permanently, such as
your sales team.
Ensuring your cards are in the right hands for the right reasons gives your
employees a sense of flexibility and responsibility.
CONSIDER VIRTUAL CARDS
You might consider issuing virtual cards when an employee may need one-time or
limited access to a corporate card.
With Pluto cards, you can issue unlimited virtual cards in a matter of minutes
and set spending limits as needed.
So the time from the employee request to delivering the virtual card credentials
is minimal.
SET BUDGETS FOR EACH TEAM AND DEPARTMENT
Clear budgets take the guesswork out of reconciling your expenses and provide a
“pool” of funds for teams to pull from.
These controls can help curb spending while still providing the funds your
business needs to succeed.
SEPARATE PERSONAL AND CORPORATE EXPENSES
When you design your budgets, it’s crucial to ensure employees know what
constitutes a business expense and what doesn’t.
For instance, some companies provide generous food allotments for traveling
employees, while others limit corporate card spending to hotel and
transportation expenses. In this instance, employees purchasing their own meals
would qualify as a personal expense.
You also want to clarify that employees can’t use their company cards for
personal expenses that don’t relate to business. Even if they plan to repay you,
it must be clear that the corporate card can not be used for these matters.
HAVE LIMITS ON CARDS AND SPENDING CATEGORIES
Another way to crack down on corporate card expenses is by setting limits. With
Pluto you can set limits when creating a new card, or adjust the limits on the
go.
Review these limits regularly to make sure that everyone has limits that are
sufficient to support them in their work.
MAKE EXPENSE REPORTING SIMPLE
The card expense reporting process shouldn’t take you hours. Submitting an
expense in Pluto is a matter of just a couple of clicks.
Drag and drop the receipt into Pluto, add a couple of details and that is it.
This efficiency ensures that employees submit all their expenses on time.
DOCUMENT EVERY PURCHASE – DIGITIZE RECEIPT MANAGEMENT
When it comes to your expense policy, your corporate credit card statement isn’t
reliable enough.
Mandating receipt uploads means that you can verify the accuracy of each
transaction for internal and tax-related purposes.
But in the modern world, many vendors are moving away from physical receipts
that tear, smudge, or blow away in the wind.
For these instances, consider setting up a corporate email address to provide
all-digital vendors.
And for expenses that do generate physical receipts - Pluto allows you to simply
take a picture of the receipt with your phone and upload it to the expense
management system!
MONITOR EMPLOYEE SPENDING HABITS
One enormous benefit of corporate cards is the sheer transparency involved.
Every transaction is recorded and automatically categorized, allowing you to
monitor corporate card expenses using credit card statements. You can also use
this information to identify overindulgent employees and limit any unscrupulous
spending habits.
But don’t just wait for the statements to show up monthly. Pluto allows you to
proactively set alerts, notifications, and monitor transaction activity, helping
you catch problems before they snowball, such as “double-dipping.” (Submitting
the same expense twice, by mistake or intent.)
ANALYZE EXPENSE REPORTS REGULARLY
Another facet of corporate card expense reporting is regularly analyzing your
reports.
With Pluto, businesses can sort expenditures by vendor, department, employee, or
internal expense codes.
Sorting and analyzing your expense reports ensures that even if you have dozens
of cards floating around, you can readily monitor and manage the ins and outs.
INTEGRATE WITH YOUR ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE
The best way to unlock your corporate cards’ potential is by integrating expense
software with your accounting software.
Doing so feeds each corporate credit card expense right into your accounting
log, saving hundreds of hours entering, verifying, and double-checking that your
corporate card statements match actual business expenses.
Pluto allows you to integrate with all major accounting software.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
* Efficient corporate card management requires you to use a platform that will
allow you to have complete spend control and flexibility.
* This is where Pluto comes in – our platform provides you with all the
features and tools necessary to fully manage your corporate card spending.
* A corporate card usage policy is another critical element to keeping spending
under control – by setting clear guidelines on what can and cannot be
purchased with corporate cards, you can avoid unnecessary expenses.
* Finally, effective communication and training for employees will ensure that
everyone is on the same page when it comes to using corporate cards
responsibly.
CORPORATE CARDS FAQS
WHAT IS A CORPORATE CARD PROGRAM?
A corporate card program issues cards to – and establishes rules for – employees
who make purchases for a business.
These purchases can range from buying office supplies to airline tickets.
Corporate card programs set guidelines for who can use a card, their spend
allowance, and the expense reporting process, among other facets.
WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF A CORPORATE CARD?
Corporate credit cards offer multiple advantages, including:
* Eliminating cumbersome reimbursement programs
* Centralizing your expense management system
* Integrating expense tracking features to simplify taxes
* Restricting employee spend based on spend limits, vendors, or products
* Reducing potential delays in the reconciliation process
Plus, many corporate cards connect to accounting software to allow businesses to
slash time and hours wasted on expense report management.
WHAT IS CORPORATE CARD EXPENSE MANAGEMENT?
Expense management refers to the systems that organizations use to track,
review, and pay for business and employee expenses.
Keeping expense management processes tightly controlled ensures that businesses
can reconcile their balance sheets.
These expenses include any purchases an employee makes to improve the business,
from office supplies to business travel costs.
Often, modern expense reports reflect tons of digital items too, like
subscriptions and cloud space.
WHAT IS CORPORATE CARD RECONCILIATION?
The corporate card reconciliation process verifies that corporate card
statements match a company’s general ledger.
Businesses rely on these processes to validate transactions, keep expenses
reasonable, and prevent fraud. (Not to mention, reconciling the books is
essential - come tax time.)
With reports that Pluto generates, the work is minimal. You issue corporate
cards, put limits on them, and all the receipts and transactions are stored in
the Reimbursement report.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A COMPANY CREDIT CARD?
From a legal and liability standpoint, employers and businesses are responsible
for all expenses charged to a corporate credit card.
That said, businesses may outline use cases in which an employee is responsible
for repaying their own charges, such as when they make personal purchases on
their employer’s dime.
View all
PLUTO IN THE PRESS
MODERN FINANCE TEAMS SAVE TIME & MONEY WITH PLUTO.
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Pluto Technologies LTD.
Gate District 4, Dubai International Financial
Centre
Dubai, UAE
Pluto Financial Services INC.
2261 Market Street STE 4675
San Francisco, CA
94114
USA
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