Corporate cards are safer than most other forms of payment. But even they aren’t totally bulletproof.

Fortunately, a few key steps are all you need to significantly increase the security of any cards you issue to employees. The Association for Financial Professionals identified  the four most commonly used controls to make sure that only authorized and approved transactions get put on company cards:

1. Requiring employees submit either original receipts or printed confirmations of Web-based transactions
2. Setting spending limits based on department/employee level (as opposed to setting one limit for all employees with cards).
3. Having a permanent card administrator or co-ordinator to monitor usage, train cardholders, etc.
4. Writing a detailed cardholder agreement (of their rights and responsibilities, as well as company policies) that all cardholders and their managers must sign.

Do you have your own advice on controls that have — or haven’t — worked at your company? Share it with us in the comments.

Tags: Best practices, Communication, Controls, Corporate credit cards, Fraud prevention, Purchasing cards, T&E