How Executive Assistants Run Corporate Card and Expense Audits

Most executives handle their corporate card the same way. They keep it to themselves because they worry about what an expense audit might turn up.

That caution usually backfires. Receipts pile up in your inbox for weeks. By month-end, nobody remembers who joined that client dinner or what it was for.

Sound familiar?

Your corporate card and expense audits run smoothly when your executive assistant owns the paperwork, and you keep the final sign-off. The setup comes down to card access, receipt rules, a monthly routine, and a short review from you.

TL;DR: Corporate Card and Expense Audit Basics for Your EA

Here’s what your EA needs in place to run your corporate card and keep every charge audit-ready:

• Give your EA a card in their own name or delegate access in your expense software.
• Put spending limits, a pre-approval threshold, and off-limits categories in writing.
• Capture each receipt and its business purpose on the day of the purchase.
• Reconcile the card statement every month and submit reports before the deadline.
• Review a short monthly summary from your EA and let finance check your EA’s own card.

Your EA handles the paperwork. You only step in for the final approval.

What Executive Assistants Handle on Your Corporate Card

A good EA can take over almost everything between the card swipe and the approved expense report. In practice, that work includes these tasks:

• Travel and bookings: Your EA books flights, hotels, and cars on the card and files each confirmation with its receipt. It’s part of how remote executive assistants coordinate travel from the first booking to the post-trip expenses.
• Vendor payments and subscriptions: Approved vendors get paid on time. And unused software subscriptions get canceled before they renew.
• Receipts and expense entries: Every receipt gets matched to its charge in your expense system, so nothing floats around unaccounted for.
• Reconciliation and reports: Each month, your EA matches the card statement to your receipts. Then they prep your expense report for your approval.
• Audit and dispute support: When finance has questions, your EA pulls the records. If a charge looks unfamiliar, they dispute it with the card issuer.

Three Ways to Give Your EA Card Access

There are three practical ways to give your EA access. The right one depends on your company’s card program and how much your EA buys for you:

1. A Corporate Card Issued in Your EA’s Name

Your card program administrator issues your EA a separate card with its own spending limit. Every charge shows your EA as the cardholder. So auditors can see exactly who made each purchase.

This works best if your EA books a lot of travel, events, or vendor payments for you. It also keeps your own card number out of shared systems.

2. Delegate Access in Your Expense Software

Delegate access lets your EA work inside your expense account without using your login. In SAP Concur, for example, an expense delegate can be given permission to create, submit, and approve reports on your behalf.

Give your EA permission to prepare and submit your reports. But hold back approval rights unless you actually want your EA approving your team’s reports while you’re away.

Just remember that delegate access only covers the paperwork. Pair it with option 1 or option 3 so your EA can also make purchases.

3. Your Own Card Used on Your Behalf

You can also let your EA use your own corporate card for bookings and purchases. It’s the fastest setup, since every charge lands on the statement you already review.

Before you hand over the number, confirm that your company’s card policy allows it. A password manager is the safest way to share sensitive details with your EA. Card numbers should never travel by email or text.

Rules to Set Before Your EA Makes the First Charge

Clear rules let your EA act without pinging you about every purchase. Share a copy with your finance team so everyone works from the same limits.

Put these rules in writing when you onboard your executive assistant:

• Spending limits: Set a limit per purchase and a limit per month. Then match them to the limits your card program already has.
• Pre-approval threshold: Pick a dollar amount above which your EA checks with you first. For reference, many EA providers won’t take on an expense of more than $50 without written approval.
• Approved categories: Spell out what the card covers, such as travel, client meals, software, and vendor payments. Name anything that’s off-limits too.
• Business and personal spending: Keep personal purchases off the corporate card. A separate personal card lets your EA handle business and personal tasks without mixing the two on one statement.
• Fraud alerts: Decide who gets card alerts from the issuer. Your EA can watch them daily and flag anything odd the same day.

What an Expense Audit Checks on Every Charge

An expense audit compares each charge with your company’s expense policy and the IRS record-keeping rules. Here’s what your finance team or an outside auditor actually looks for:

• A receipt: The IRS requires a receipt or similar proof for any lodging charge and for any other business expense of $75 or more. Your company’s policy may set the bar even lower.
• A business purpose: Every charge needs a record of the amount, date, place, and business reason. For business meals, IRS Publication 463 also calls for the business relationship of each person who attended.
• Policy compliance: The charge fits an approved category and stays within your limits. Anything over your pre-approval threshold has a written approval attached.
• A statement match: Every line on your card statement ties to an expense entry. And every expense entry ties back to the statement.
• On-time paperwork: IRS rules for employer reimbursement plans treat paperwork as on time when it reaches your employer within 60 days of the purchase. Your company may set a tighter deadline.

A missing receipt has a way of showing up again the moment finance runs an audit.

Handing over your corporate card gets a lot easier once you know how to build trust with your EA. Get your free copy of The 29-Hour Work Day. In it, ProAssisting co-founders Ethan and Stephanie Bull explain how to give your EA real access from day one.

How Your EA Keeps Every Charge Audit-Ready

A simple five-step routine keeps your records audit-ready at any time. And your EA can run every step without dragging you into the details:

1. Capture the Receipt and Business Purpose the Same Day

Your EA should capture each receipt on the day of the purchase. Email receipts can go straight into your expense app. Paper receipts just need a clear photo.

At the same time, your EA notes the business purpose and, for meals, who attended. A quick text from you after a client dinner is usually all it takes.

A consistent file name, such as date, vendor, and amount, makes any receipt easy to find later.

2. Code Each Charge to the Right Category

Your EA assigns each charge to the category your finance team uses, such as airfare, lodging, or client meals. They also tag any charge that should be billed back to a client or project.

Clean coding helps your finance team close the books faster each month. It’s also a core part of how EAs work with finance on reporting cycles.

3. Reconcile the Card Statement Every Month

Reconciling means matching every line on your card statement to a receipt and an expense entry. Your EA should do it as soon as each statement closes.

Any charge without a receipt goes on a short follow-up list. Then your EA tracks down those receipts before the report is due.

4. Submit Expense Reports Before the Deadline

Your EA builds the report, attaches every receipt, and sends it to you for review. Once you approve it, your EA submits it through their delegate access.

Set a calendar reminder one week before your company’s deadline. That one reminder keeps every report on schedule.

5. Archive Records for at Least Three Years

The IRS generally says to keep records for 3 years. Some situations call for longer, so confirm the right period with your accountant.

Your EA should save each month’s report and receipts in one folder, sorted by year and month. That way, any receipt is a few clicks away when finance or an auditor asks.

Red Flags Your EA Should Catch Before Finance Does

Expense problems can hide for a long time without a monthly check. In the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) 2024 global fraud study, expense reimbursement schemes showed up in 13% of cases. These are schemes where someone claims fake or inflated business expenses.

The median loss in those cases was $50,000. And the schemes ran for a median of 18 months before anyone caught them.

That’s a year and a half of fake expenses slipping through.

Your EA should look for these warning signs during each monthly reconciliation:

• Duplicate charges: The same merchant and amount show up twice within a day or two. Your EA should confirm with the merchant and request a refund for any double charge.
• Unknown merchants: A charge comes from a business neither of you recognizes. That calls for a same-day report to the card issuer, since it can mean someone stole the card number.
• Forgotten subscriptions: A free trial has quietly turned into a paid plan. Any tool you no longer use should be canceled before it renews again.
• Split charges: One purchase shows up as two charges that each sit just under a spending limit. A short note explaining why keeps it from looking like a way around approval.
• Personal purchases: A personal charge landed on the corporate card by mistake. Your EA flags it so you can repay it before the report goes in.

How to Review Your EA’s Expense Work Each Month

Your part of the process can stay short when your EA handles the prep. Block time once a month and cover these points:

• Read a one-page summary: Ask your EA for a monthly summary of total spend, spend by category, charges above your threshold, and open disputes. You’ll see the whole month at a glance.
• Spot-check a few receipts: Pick three to five charges at random and look at the receipts and notes. That confirms the system works without redoing your EA’s work.
• Approve your own report: Your EA prepares the report. But the approval comes from you, since only you can confirm each charge was yours and for business.
• Send your EA’s card to finance: If your EA has a card in their name, ask finance or your controller to review those charges. That keeps separation of duties in place, which simply means no single person both makes and approves the same charge.
• Update the rules: Raise a limit or add a category when the current rules slow your EA down. Small tweaks keep the setup working as your needs grow.

Keep the review light.

Rechecking every line yourself wipes out the time your EA saves you. It also wears down trust, as this book excerpt on micromanagement explains.

How a ProAssistant Protects Your Card and Receipts

Giving card access to an assistant outside your office raises fair questions about security. That’s where ProAssisting comes in.

ProAssisting’s executive assistants, called ProAssistants, work under these safeguards:

• Bonding and insurance: Every ProAssistant is bonded. Each one also carries errors and omissions insurance and criminal liability insurance. Errors and omissions insurance covers claims that come from professional mistakes.
• Account security: ProAssistants use biometric and two-factor authentication on their email accounts and devices.
• Confidentiality: You can sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) directly with your ProAssistant before work begins.
• Strict vetting: ProAssisting accepts less than 5% of applicants. Every ProAssistant has years of experience supporting high-level executives.

A ProAssistant also works inside the expense tools and card portals you already use. See how ProAssisting’s fractional executive assistant service actually works. Or take the five-minute executive assistant quiz to find the support level that fits your workload.

You’re a 30-minute meeting away from saving hours of your time every week. Book a free consultation with ProAssisting to see how an experienced, US-based executive assistant can own your receipts, expense reports, and monthly card reconciliation.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are quick answers to common questions about EAs, corporate cards, and expense audits:

How Often Should Your Corporate Card Charges Be Audited?

Your EA should reconcile your card every month. Your finance team sets the schedule for formal audits. It’s also worth adding a quarterly check of recurring subscriptions.

Can a Remote Executive Assistant Manage Expense Reports Securely?

Yes, a remote EA can manage your expense reports securely. Delegate access, a password manager, and two-factor authentication keep your card details protected. They’re the same habits EAs use to manage confidential information.

What Happens if Your EA Makes a Mistake on an Expense Report?

Your EA corrects the entry, resubmits the report, and adds a short note for finance. Mistakes happen to even the best executive assistants. So update the step that caused the error to keep it from happening again.

Do You Need Expense Software if You Have an Executive Assistant?

No, you can run expense reports without dedicated software. But software does make your EA’s work faster, since receipts, coding, and delegate submissions all live in one place. Top EAs pick tools that fit your workflow and work well in whatever system your company already uses.

What Should You Do if an Audit Flags One of Your Charges?

Ask your EA to pull the receipt, the business purpose note, and any approval for that charge. Your EA sends the documents to finance and handles the follow-up. If the charge turns out to be personal, repay it and tighten the rule that let it through.

The Bottom Line

A clean expense audit starts weeks before finance asks for anything. It comes from small habits your EA repeats every month, like saving receipts the same day and matching every statement line.

And a ProAssistant can run that routine for you. ProAssisting pairs you with a seasoned, US-based executive assistant who can manage your card, receipts, and reports. A 3-to-1 client-to-assistant ratio gives your ProAssistant time to learn how you work. Plans start at $3,300 per month for one-third of a ProAssistant’s time.

Ready to hand off your expense reports for good? Book your free consultation with ProAssisting and get matched with a ProAssistant who keeps every charge audit-ready.