Corporate Card Reconciliation

A manager uses a company card for travel, software and client meals, and at month end finance sees a bank statement but not necessarily what each charge was for. Reconciliation connects the external charges with the company's records, so collect the complete card statement or feed, including every card and account, not just transactions with uploaded receipts.

Missing evidence should remain visible as an exception. Match transaction details by comparing amount, date, merchant and currency with the expense record, remembering that a card settlement date may differ from the purchase date.

Attach support, because invoices, itemised receipts and booking confirmations answer different questions and a card slip alone may not identify what was bought. Ask for business purpose too, since a meal receipt may show food and a total but not the client meeting or participants.

Code accounts and projects, because the same supplier may provide different types of expense and the cardholder or reviewer should assign the correct ledger account, tax treatment and cost centre. Zoho's corporate-card reconciliation guide describes matching statements, receipts and accounting records, then resolving exceptions, and Corpay's guide also distinguishes transaction matching from policy review and month-end close.

Both are practical vendor guidance rather than binding accounting standards, so a company should adapt the process to its cards, systems and audit needs. Reconcile totals: the opening balance plus charges, fees and other adjustments less payments and credits should explain the closing balance, and a complete set of coded expenses alone may not match the statement.

An illustrative statement check is opening balance plus charges minus credits and payments. If opening is $2,000, charges $5,000, credits $300 and payment $4,000, closing is $2,700, but confirm statement treatment of fees and foreign exchange.

Check refunds, since a hotel reversal or returned purchase should link to the original charge and an unassigned credit may hide an overstated expense. Handle foreign currency by recording the card issuer's billed amount and conversion separately when needed, because the receipt's local-currency amount may not equal the ledger charge.

Investigate duplicate submissions, where a worker uploads one receipt twice or the card feed and a manual expense report both create an expense, by comparing identifiers before posting. Separate roles: a cardholder explains the purchase, while an independent reviewer checks evidence and policy, and the same person should not approve all their own exceptions.

Do not equate a missing receipt with fraud; ask for a replacement invoice or documented explanation, then apply policy, and report suspicious or unauthorised charges to the issuer promptly under the card terms so that a dispute window is not missed. Document each exception with who reviewed it, the explanation and the correction.