How to move spend controls closer to the point of purchase

When finance needs tighter control over spending, the obvious answer is often more approval. But every additional approval also creates another task for someone to complete.

And approval can only do so much. It can authorize a planned purchase, but it can’t ensure the actual transaction stays within the approved amount, merchant category or other spending parameters.

That helps explain a gap in how finance teams manage spend today. According to PEX’s State of Finance 2026 report, 37% of finance teams enforce spend policies during approval and 40% review and flag issues after the fact. Just 18% enforce policy at the point of transaction.

But tighter control doesn’t have to mean adding more manual oversight. By moving the right guardrails closer to the transaction, finance can enforce defined spending rules as purchases happen and reserve human review for the decisions that require judgment. 

That balance becomes more important as finance teams automate more of their work. Trust in AI accuracy is the top barrier to expanding AI, cited by 36% of finance leaders. Clear guardrails can help finance automate routine work while maintaining control. 

Understand the role of approvals and spend controls

Finance can oversee spending at multiple points in the process, with different tools serving different purposes.

Approval workflows give the right people a chance to review planned spending before it happens. They’re especially useful for large, unusual or sensitive purchases. But once a purchase is approved, the cardholder still has to stay within the parameters finance intended.

Spend controls can carry those parameters through to the transaction itself. Finance can set rules around how much a cardholder can spend, where the card can be used and other defined boundaries that apply when the purchase occurs.

In simple terms:

• Approval workflows: Should we authorize this purchase?
• Spend controls: What will the cardholder actually be allowed to spend?

Used together, approvals and spend controls let finance keep human oversight where judgment matters while automating enforcement of rules that have already been established. 

Build controls into the spending process

With those roles clear, finance can determine where different requirements belong in the spending process: before a purchase, when money moves or afterward.

Before purchase: Define the boundaries

Finance can start by translating spend policies into clear parameters based on how different cardholders need to spend. A traveling employee, field worker and department manager may all need access to company funds, but they don’t necessarily need the same spending permissions.

Depending on the cardholder, that can include:

• Card limits: Set how much a cardholder can spend.
• Merchant-category restrictions: Define where the card can and can’t be used.
• Cardholder-specific rules: Tailor spending access to an employee’s role or responsibilities.
• Documentation requirements: Establish which receipts, notes or tags cardholders need to provide.

Setting these rules in advance puts less responsibility on cardholders to interpret policy every time they make a purchase.

At purchase: Enforce the rules when money moves

Transaction-level controls can apply these rules when a cardholder attempts a purchase. Card limits can prevent spending beyond an established amount, while merchant-category restrictions can prevent purchases from businesses finance hasn’t authorized.

That shifts some policy enforcement from review to prevention. Instead of discovering out-of-policy purchases during expense review or reconciliation, finance can stop some of them before the money is spent. The need grows as organizations scale: 8% of organizations under $10 million in revenue find policy violations monthly or more, compared with 29% of those with $250 million or more in revenue.

Finance teams are interested in making that shift. While 21% currently use real-time spend controls, another 58% are interested in doing so.

After purchase: Keep compliance moving

Controls still matter after a legitimate purchase goes through. Finance needs cardholders to provide the receipts and other information that keep transaction records complete.

Automated enforcement can reduce the follow-up that creates more work for finance. Organizations can establish requirements for receipts and other transaction details, set deadlines for providing them and define what happens when information remains outstanding. That puts more responsibility on cardholders to complete each transaction rather than leaving finance to chase missing documentation.

With required documentation attached earlier, finance has more complete transaction records when reconciliation begins. Instead of tracking down missing information, the team can focus on resolving exceptions and preparing completed transactions for the accounting system. 

Technology can help finance put that approach into practice.

How PEX helps move controls closer to the transaction

PEX gives finance teams multiple ways to enforce company policies throughout the spending process:

• Set boundaries before purchases. Finance can configure card limits and merchant-category restrictions based on how each cardholder needs to spend. The PEX agent can also create spend rules from a prompt, so administrators can describe what they need instead of configuring each rule manually. 
• Enforce rules when transactions happen. Card-level controls can restrict transactions that fall outside finance-defined parameters, helping prevent unauthorized spend before it happens.
• Keep compliance moving afterward. PEX’s Auto Enforcer can prompt cardholders for required receipts, notes and tags, then temporarily restrict further spending when requirements aren’t met within the configured timeframe. Auto Enforcer history also gives finance a record of automated blocks and the missing information that triggered them.

Those capabilities can support very different spending environments, from employees traveling on behalf of a nonprofit to property teams managing expenses across multiple locations.

Eastshore Alliance: Put controls where spending happens

For Eastshore Alliance, a nonprofit youth soccer club with more than 60 teams, travel spending created work for both coaches and finance. Coaches paid $250 to $1,000 out of pocket for tournament expenses, then waited for reimbursement while finance manually tracked receipts and expenses.

With PEX, Eastshore gives coaches direct access to funds while using category-level controls to set boundaries around how they spend. Coaches can use their cards for approved expenses such as hotels and meals, while purchases outside permitted categories can be blocked.

The change eliminated out-of-pocket travel costs for coaches and helped Eastshore save about 10 hours per month on expense management. 

Cypressbrook: Extend oversight beyond the purchase

At Cypressbrook Multifamily Management, the challenge continued after employees made a purchase. The company manages 11 multifamily properties, each with its own account, which created significant reconciliation work for its finance team.

Cypressbrook uses PEX’s Auto Enforcer to make transaction documentation part of the spending process. If cardholders don’t submit required receipts on time, Auto Enforcer can temporarily pause card access until they comply. AI-powered GL suggestions also help property managers code transactions and add notes during reconciliation.

Together, these workflows have helped Cypressbrook save five hours per month on reconciliation and close its books within the accounting period instead of two to three months later.

Build oversight that can scale with the business

As transaction volume grows, finance shouldn’t have to add another manual checkpoint every time spending becomes more complex. Yet among organizations with $10 million to $50 million in revenue, only 16% enforce policy at the point of transaction, while 43% catch issues after the money has already been spent.

Putting the right guardrails in place earlier gives growing teams a way to build for that complexity before it creates more work. Finance can automate routine enforcement while staying in control of how company funds are spent.

See how other finance leaders are approaching that balance in PEX’s State of Finance 2026 report.