Subscriptions (or recurring payments) are a major part of the expense cycle for a business. With time, it may become difficult for the employees and the Finance team to keep track of the due amounts, their volume, and the charged corporate cards. Additionally, subscription amounts tend to increase, which may lead to accountants missing updates in company spending.
The Subscriptions app
In Payhawk, subscriptions are recurring company expenses that are paid with corporate cards or through bank transfers, and are listed under the Subscriptions app.
In the Subscriptions app, employees can see an overview and statistics of the subscriptions that are due from their corporate cards or any bank transfer expenses they've marked as subscriptions. For example, under the % CHANGE tab, you can see what's the amount you've paid for the previous period compared to the current period.
Detecting subscriptions
Payhawk tracks all subscription payments from cards and bank payments.
To detect subscriptions, Payhawk has acquired the following strategies:
Tracking expenses.
When a new expense is created, the system checks the expense feed and identifies whether this expense is recurring on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, and also the owner (submitter) of that subscription.
If such a subscription exists, Payhawk automatically adds the expense to the relevant subscription.
Each expense that is part of a subscription will display a revolving icon next to its amount.
Reviewing the existing suppliers' database.
Payhawk searches through its database of subscription suppliers.
Whenever an expense due to such a supplier has been created, the system automatically prompts the submitter that this is likely to be a recurring payment (subscription).
Monitoring user input.
Payhawk also looks for user input that may indicate a recurring payment.
Useful resources