Is Your Company Credit Card
Being Exploited?

How secure is your company credit card? Busy offices are often filled with a flurry of activity, regardless of their sizes or the amount of staff or industry. Employees have a lot more on their plate these days and staying on top of everything seems harder that reaching the summit of Mount Everest. As an owner of a business, especially a smaller operation that is growing fast, there is a period of transition that begins to occur as you need to start turning over the reins to other people. It may be difficult for some to release that control into the hands of other management individuals at first, especially after handling so much of the business on your own.

At top priority from a business owner and management perspective should be the proper handling of confidential information, in particular the company credit card. Secretaries and office managers are often asked to order supplies, equipment, and a number of other items from outside vendors or over the internet. Because employees are engaged throughout the day, it needs to become a company policy that only certain individuals have access to the company credit card. Card numbers should not be written down and left in different areas of the office just for convenience purposes, especially if your office is available and open to the public. This also includes pin numbers and code word authorizations that are often used by credit card companies to verify your identity.

Authorization forms used in the office for all credit card purchases should be kept by a responsible party and each receipt should be submitted with a description of the purchase, the date the card was used, and the name of the person making the purchase. Receipts should be kept and reviewed against the monthly statements each month. It may be the only way a company can verify accurate charges and more importantly, authorized charges.

Dishonest employees are not the only threat to the company credit card. It is becoming a common occurrence that people outside the office pose a danger as well. Employees of outside vendors or from any company you make purchase from also have access to your company account information. This includes suppliers, hotels, restaurants, and gas stations. Companies who do not regularly audit their credit card statements may not even notice some of the minor charges being pace on the card. Generally, it takes a big purchase to garner any interest that something is amiss.

When selecting a credit card for your business, make sure you have a solid understanding of what protective measures go along with your card account. In the event an unauthorized charge is made on your card, you want to take immediate action. You should know beforehand what to expect when dealing with fraud on your company credit card and make sure you will be protected and not responsible for such incidents.

Tisha Kulak is a writer for Creditorweb.com, where she writes about credit card offers, business credit cards and small business finances.

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