Petty Cash Alternatives: why it’s time to switch to a simpler system

If you’ve landed on this page, chances are you’re using a petty cash fund for your business expenses and you’re looking for something different. This is understandable, as petty cash is an increasingly outdated method that businesses are moving away from.

Our petty cash hub can direct you to all sorts of information around petty cash, from books to boxes, but in this article we’re going beyond petty cash to think about alternatives. There are numerous systems to choose from, but only one will be the best fit for your business.

One alternative to a petty cash fund that’s still used by some businesses is to have employees front their own costs and devote time each month to reclaiming the money they’re owed.

However, this is hardly more effective. You won’t expect your team to pay for big ticket items like flights or travel expenses, but often it’s the small expenses that can prove even more problematic: a few drinks with a client or a meal out whilst travelling.

These charges can add up, and lost receipts or inefficient reporting often leads to short-changed employees. This isn’t great for morale, and can cause difficulties for those who don’t have the money to spare.

Business credit card
Thankfully, there are options out there that are designed with more efficiency in mind. One of the most popular of these is the business credit card. Business credit cards function much in the same way as a personal credit card, allowing employees to pay for their expenses quickly and easily without resorting to using their own money.

Company credit card
This option is certainly more secure than physical cash, but it has its own set of problems, and even shares some issues with petty cash. With a company credit card you can rarely set a limit, meaning spending can easily spiral.

We’ve already mentioned how Soldo provides answers to many of petty cash and its alternatives’ problems, but let’s go into depth on Soldo’s complete spending solution using prepaid cards and great expense management software. From the point of purchase to the bookkeeping, Soldo saves you time and money.

You can order as many Soldo Mastercard®️ cards as you like, and distribute them however you deem fit. It could be one card per person, team, department, or even vehicle. You then load the card with a balance and establish spending rules. Is this card just for a particular type of expense? Then you can set it that way.

Employees can use this card as they’d use any payment card. They pay at the till or online, then snap a photo of the receipt, add any necessary comments, and that’s it. You as an admin can then view every transaction, from every card, as it happens. You can do this through the Soldo mobile app or desktop console.

And it’s not just monitoring you can do either. If your team ever needs a top-up while they’re out and about, you can transfer them funds remotely, so employees who are out of office are never out of pocket.

Once you’re ready to reconcile your expenses, our seamless integrations with accounting software such as QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite mean you can transfer all your spend data in no time at all. That’s bookkeeping as it should be.

And those are just the basics of Soldo. There’s much more to discover, but as you can see, Soldo’s base features are designed with businesses in mind, and everything we offer makes life easier for you and your team.

Say goodbye to your petty cash fund and save your company time and money by switching to Soldo today.