American Express Corporate Purchasing Card
Simplify the procurement process and negotiate preferred rates.
Keep business payments in one place allowing you to track your spending, simplify reconciliation and help negotiate better rates with suppliers.
Streamline your Purchasing Process
An American Express® Corporate Purchasing Card is an expense management solution that allows you to consolidate regular payments to vendors and suppliers within a single account, set limits on how much and with whom your employees can spend, and gain insight into your spending patterns.
Help drive efficiency with a Corporate Purchasing Card
Control spending
Assign parameters for where and how Cards are used, and how much can be spent.
Streamline operations
Simplify payment and reconciliation processes while helping ensure you’re in compliance with your company payment policies.
Gain insights
Receive detailed transaction information and data analysis to help inform spend decision-making.
Manage cash flow
Take advantage of your payment terms to extend Days Payable Outstanding (DPO)*
*DPO extension may vary depending on when in the billing cycle the payment is made.
How does an American Express Corporate Purchasing Card work?
Set up your program
Determine the mix of physical Cards and virtual accounts required and then decide which of your expenses can be converted to a Corporate Purchasing Card and which controls can offer you the most value. Your dedicated American Express Business Specialist will work with you every step of the way.
Onboard Suppliers
Our dedicated supplier management team can help with enrollment strategy, maximize adoption, and provide ongoing support.
Use your Card
Employees can spend within the limits you’ve set, while you use the American Express @Work® program to oversee policy compliance, identify opportunities to drive savings and efficiently pay your vendors.
Analyse and save
Take advantage of the data we provide to better understand your purchasing volume with preferred suppliers so you can take advantage of any offers those suppliers may offer.
Case study: a national consulting firm finds a two-pronged solution
The Challenge: A national consulting firm needed to update their expense management system to serve their central office and multiple field teams, while driving compliance with company policies and cost reductions.
The Solution: The firm opted for a two-pronged solution: a virtual American Express Corporate Purchasing Card account at the central office, and one physical Card each for the field teams. Both the virtual account and physical Card allowed their Program Administrators (PAs) to set specific blocks and limits on transactions, which helped remove the need for manual approvals in the purchasing process.
Across the company, employees were able to spend less time manually inputting data into spreadsheets and more time innovating for success. Additionally, the program generated rich data fields that the firm could integrate with their ERP to further streamline processes and find more efficient ways to spend.
Time-saving tools meets white-glove service
Help put time on your side with comprehensive digital account-management tools and world class customer service from American Express.
American Express @Work
American Express @Work lets your Program Administrator (PA) manage all your company Card accounts from one convenient location.
- Search accounts by Cardmember name, Card number, employee ID, cost center, payment status, and more.
- Search and sort transactions by date range, Card type, Cardmember, account number, transaction status, and more.
- Replace, transfer, suspend, un-suspend, or cancel Cards or groups of Cards.
- Monitor spending and payments at the Card, Account, or company-wide level.
- Generate Card reports and data files, customized reporting, and business travel reports.
American Express @Work Reconciliation
American Express @Work Reconciliation is a 24/7 tool that takes steps out of the reconciliation process.
- Simplify accounting: transactions from your Corporate Purchasing Card flow automatically into @Work Reconciliation, so your team can systematically apply accounting codes.
- Automate reconciliation and validation processes using preset accounting rules, so your team can view and reallocate any exceptions.
- View and modify accounting information and rules, decreasing the time needed to edit journal entries after the cycle closes.
- Automatically upload data into your ERP system, making the reconciliation process less cumbersome.
Digital Capabilities
Go paperless to keep all your account information in one secure and convenient location and easily generate reports and files.
- Generate digital statements to securely share with your team to help create spending insights and guiding principles.
- Create statements in the form of raw data files, spreadsheets, online statements, PDFs, or reports within your Online Services account.
- Drive efficiencies with single processing through a consolidated statement
Expert Consultants & Service
- American Express can help to develop a customized payments strategy for your business.
- Professional and dedicated customer assistance is just a phone call away. So whether you have billing inquires, emergency replacement Card requests or need information or access to a Card benefit or service, we’re ready and able to provide the support you need.
Start your American Express Corporate Purchasing Card application
Call 1-877-891-0821 and speak to a rep immediately. Or, fill out the form by clicking on the button below and a representative will contact you within 2 business days.
Not an American Express Cardmember?
Sign up for an American Express Corporate Card program to open up a world of perks, tools and opportunities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Corporate Purchasing Cards are designed to help your company with expense management for supplier and vendor payments. It allows you to consolidate regular payments to vendors within a single account, set limits on how and with whom your employees can spend, and gain insight into your spending.
When you sign up for an American Express Corporate Purchasing Card, you can choose to issue physical Cards or virtual accounts to your employees. Physical Cards are designed for employees who work away from the office and are ideal for business-related expenses. Virtual accounts are better suited for placing remote orders with a preferred supplier or in a procurement platform. Virtual accounts can also be used as a central form of payment by a department within a company that does not want to issue physical Cards to multiple employees. From the American Express @Work digital platform, you can set and enforce limits on which companies your employees can spend with, as well as how much they can spend.
If you make large or frequent business purchases, or have multiple employees making purchases on behalf of your business, you may be able to take advantage of a Purchasing Card to set spending limits and track company-wide spend. A Corporate Card can be used for similar types of purchases but is better suited to be tied to a single employee’s business or travel purchases. Many companies choose to use both Corporate Purchasing Cards and Corporate Cards to meet the full range of their business spending needs.
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