The holidays are upon us, and during this time, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season. But that’s precisely why you need to be all the more vigilant and ready for the personal spending that will occur using your ComCards and other spending accounts.
An Increase in Spending…and Risk
This time of year, it’s typical for spending of all sorts, both business and personal, to increase. Just as consumers are busy buying gifts for loved ones, businesses are also purchasing gifts to thank loyal clients. Companies are also spending money on last-minute production pushes, marketing efforts for the upcoming year, and equipment for end-of-the-year tax write-offs.
With all this big spending, there’s also higher risk. The heavy number of transactions that take place in November and December make it easier for smaller amounts to go unchecked.
Act on Your Knowledge
Knowledge is a powerful thing. You know that your company’s spending will increase this month. You know that it will generate a mountain of transactions and receipts. The best thing you can do at this time is to be proactive and prepare for the inevitable. Here are two ways to do so.
Prevent Personal Spending
The more you can stop personal spending upfront, the better. The best proactive move for prevention of misuse is training. Using Card Integrity’s “TrainingWISE” solution, you can communicate your specific policies and procedures with your employees before they use the accounts. You can then repeat them as reminders and refreshers along the way — including when the holiday season approaches.
Per your company’s specific design, these TrainingWISE courses teach employees how to properly use cards and other spending accounts. In them, you can make clear what constitutes a “personal” purchase — as well as what will happen if a user makes such a purchase. TrainingWISE tests the trainees on the information they learn, ensuring that your users not only receive the information on your policies but understand it as well.
Prepare for Data Review
The large amount of transactions this season will undoubtedly create more invoices, statements, and receipts to review in January. Rather than find your company struggling in a sea of expense data — and risk overlooking many of the smaller transactions that might have personal spending — prepare now for what you know is coming.
To aid you in that preparation, take advantage of Card Integrity’s “DataWISE.” It’s the perfect solution for overwhelming review periods. Allowing Card Integrity to take over the burden of your data review via DataWISE will extend to your business two immediate benefits:
- A complete and comprehensive review of 100 percent of the data coming through for compliance — nothing falls through the cracks.
- Employees better suited to other tasks can focus on those areas, rather than data review.
Once non-compliance is identified, it can be dealt with, so that it doesn’t happen again.
Proactivity Protects Your Accounts
Author Brennan Manning is quoted as saying, “That which is denied cannot be healed.” Ignoring the fact that the holidays bring an upswing in transactions and, by default, an increased numbers of receipts to be reviewed in January, won’t make your commercial card problems go away. However, accepting that fact — and proactively preparing for it —will help you successfully protect your accounts.
The moment to do so is now. Don’t hesitate to implement the solutions that will help you reduce risk and run more efficiently this holiday season — and beyond.
To discover more tips that will help you look out for and prevent fraud this holiday season, download our new, free, comprehensive eGuide, “Green and Red Flags: Card Program Visibility & Confidence,” today to learn more about the importance of identifying green and red flags in cardholder purchasing behavior.
