Created on statement day, every month
A monthly schedule starts the checklist on the statement closing date, with the cardholder deadline, manager review and reconciliation each due a set number of days later.
Corporate Credit Card Reconciliation Checklist Template
The card statement arrives on time every month. The receipts, the coding and the explanation for that £640 charge from a merchant nobody recognises are another matter.
Corporate cards move spending decisions out to dozens of cardholders, and the monthly reconciliation is where finance gets them back under control. This free credit card reconciliation checklist is for finance managers, AP leads and card programme administrators running corporate, travel and purchasing (P-card) programmes. It covers statement cut-off, cardholder coding and receipts, manager review, disputes and personal charges, the reconciliation of the statement to the card liability account in the general ledger, and the monthly housekeeping of leavers’ and inactive cards. Scope questions at the start show the tasks for company-billed or individually billed cards, a purchasing card phase and a UK VAT phase only when they apply.
What a Card Reconciliation Proves, and What It Doesn’t
A credit card reconciliation does two jobs. It accounts for every transaction on the statement: each one coded, supported by a receipt, explained and reviewed by someone other than the cardholder. And it proves that the balance the card issuer says you owe agrees to the card liability or clearing account in your ledger, so the month-end balance sheet is right and the statement is paid in full and on time.
It is not a bank reconciliation, which proves cash, and it is not an audit. The reconciliation looks at every transaction once, within weeks of the statement, through the eyes of the cardholder and their manager. An expense audit comes later, tests a sample in depth and looks for patterns across people and months that a monthly review cannot see.
Monthly, every account
Bank reconciliation
- Bank statement balance agreed to the cash ledger
- Timing differences and unrecorded items
- Run with the Bank Reconciliation Checklist
Monthly, every transaction
Card reconciliation (this checklist)
- Receipt, coding and business purpose for each charge
- Manager review, disputes and personal charges
- Statement agreed to the card liability account
Quarterly, a sample
Expense audit
- Risk-based and random sample after payment
- Duplicates across cards and claims, tax treatment
- Run with the Expense Audit Checklist
What the Credit Card Reconciliation Checklist Covers
Seven phases run from statement cut-off to sign-off. Phase 4 appears only for UK VAT-registered companies and Phase 5 only when the programme includes purchasing cards. In Phase 6, the liability answer shows the company-billed tasks, the individually billed tasks or both.
Cut-Off
Phase 1: Statement Cut-Off & Set-Up
Owned by the card programme administrator. Answer the three scope questions first.
- Name the programme administrator, finance reconciler and controller — later tasks are assigned from these fields
- Answer the scope questions — company-billed, individually billed or both; purchasing cards in the programme; UK VAT-registered
- Download the statement for the closing date — the issuer’s statement, not a live feed, with the closing balance and transaction count
- Agree the issuer’s list of active cards to your card register — every card has a named holder, manager, cost centre and limit
- Send cardholders the submission deadline — with the list of their transactions still missing a receipt or code
- Carry forward last month’s open items — disputes awaiting credit, unpaid personal charges and missing receipts
Cardholders
Phase 2: Cardholder Coding & Receipts
- Code every transaction — GL account, cost centre and project, using the live dropdown lists
- Attach an itemised receipt or invoice to each charge — the statement line proves payment, not what was bought
- Record business purpose and attendees — for meals, travel and anything unusual for the cardholder’s role
- Complete a missing-receipt declaration where a receipt is lost — within the number and value the policy allows
- Flag personal charges — with the amount and how the cardholder will repay it
- Report any transaction the cardholder does not recognise the same day — to the issuer and the programme administrator, and block the card if fraud is suspected
Review
Phase 3: Manager Review, Disputes & Personal Charges
- Line manager reviews each cardholder’s transactions against policy — no one reviews their own card, and directors’ cards go to the CFO or chair
- Chase late submissions and apply the policy — repeat offenders lose the card or have their limit cut
- Raise disputes with the issuer inside its deadline — duplicates, wrong amounts, cancelled bookings and goods not received
- Recover personal charges — by repayment, or by payroll deduction only where the contract or prior written consent allows
- Send unrecovered personal spend to payroll — UK: P11D and Class 1 National Insurance; US: taxable wages
UK VAT
Phase 4: VAT on Card Spend
Shown only when the company is UK VAT-registered.
- Reclaim input VAT only where a valid VAT invoice is held — a card statement is not a VAT invoice; a simplified invoice covers supplies of £250 or less including VAT
- Hold back VAT where the invoice is still missing — claim it on the return for the period in which the invoice arrives, within the four-year limit
- Exclude VAT on business entertainment — client hospitality is blocked; staff subsistence and staff entertainment are recoverable
- Exclude foreign VAT — VAT charged abroad, on hotels for example, cannot go on the UK return
- Account for the reverse charge on services bought by card from overseas suppliers — software subscriptions and online advertising are common examples
If P-Cards
Phase 5: Purchasing Card Checks
Shown only when the programme includes purchasing cards.
- Confirm goods and services were received — a P-card payment skips the purchase order and goods receipt that AP would normally rely on
- Look for split purchases — one order paid in parts to stay under the single-transaction limit or the purchase order threshold
- Review blocked merchant categories and any overrides — and whether recurring supplier charges should move to a purchase order
- Use the issuer’s line-item VAT invoices where available — UK purchasing card arrangements under VAT Notice 701/48 can support the VAT reclaim
- US: exclude card-paid vendors from 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC — card payments are reported on Form 1099-K by the payment settlement entity
Reconcile
Phase 6: Reconcile to the Ledger & Settle
Tasks marked company-billed or individually billed appear according to the liability answer in Phase 1.
- Agree the card platform or expense tool to the issuer statement — count and total per card, and explain every difference
- Company-billed: post the statement to the card liability account — expense lines by code and cost centre, credit the liability
- Company-billed: reconcile the card liability account — opening balance, plus the statement, less payments, equals the issuer’s balance
- Accrue charges made between the statement date and month-end — where the statement does not close on the last day of the month
- Company-billed: approve and pay the statement balance by the due date — and record any programme rebate or fee
- Individually billed: review the issuer’s past-due report — and confirm cardholders have claimed reimbursement for business charges
Sign-Off
Phase 7: Card Housekeeping & Sign-Off
- Cancel cards for leavers and movers — matched to this month’s HR leavers and role changes, with the final statement recovered
- Review inactive cards — no spend for several months means the card can be cancelled or its limit reduced
- Review limit changes and new cards issued this month — each approved by the right person before issue
- Controller approval of the reconciliation — the checklist halts until the controller answers
- Archive the statement, reconciliation and open-items list — ready to carry forward next month
Card Liability Models and the Monthly Cycle
Who the issuer bills decides what finance reconciles. Check your card agreement: names vary by issuer, and many programmes mix models, with company-billed travel accounts alongside individually billed employee cards.
| Model | Who pays the issuer | What finance reconciles | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company-billed (central or corporate liability) | The company pays the whole statement | Every transaction, and the statement balance to the card liability account | Personal or unsupported spend paid before anyone has reviewed it |
| Individually billed (individual liability) | The cardholder pays and claims business charges back through expenses | The expense claims, plus the issuer’s past-due report | Business charges claimed twice, or a cardholder falling behind on payments |
| Joint and several | Usually the cardholder, with the company liable if they do not pay | As individually billed, with closer attention to arrears | The company ends up paying for a leaver’s unpaid balance |
| Purchasing card (P-card) | The company, normally on a central statement | Every transaction, receipt of goods, and the statement balance | Purchases that bypass purchase orders and goods-received checks |
Where the differences usually come from. When the card platform or expense tool does not agree to the statement, the cause is rarely mysterious: transactions that were still pending authorisations at the closing date, refunds and dispute credits posted on a different date from the original charge, foreign transaction fees the issuer adds as separate lines, and cards issued or cancelled mid-cycle that one system knows about and the other does not. List each difference with its cause in Phase 6 and expect it to clear next month. A difference with no cause is a finding, not a rounding item.
A typical month, counted from the statement closing date. These are suggested offsets for the template; set your own around the issuer’s payment due date.
Day 0
Statement closes
The checklist is created, the statement downloaded and cardholders told what is still missing.
Day 5
Cardholder deadline
Every transaction coded, receipted and explained, with personal charges and unrecognised items flagged.
Day 8
Manager review complete
Disputes raised, personal charges agreed, late cardholders chased.
Day 12
Reconciled and approved
Statement posted, liability account reconciled, controller approval recorded, payment scheduled before the due date.
Dispute rights are thinner on company cards. In the US, most of the Truth in Lending Act’s Regulation Z does not apply to credit extended for business purposes. The exception is the rules on card issuance and liability for unauthorised use, and where an issuer provides 10 or more cards to one organisation’s employees, the organisation and issuer may agree different liability terms, though an employee’s own liability stays capped by the regulation. In the UK, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 protects consumers, not business cardholders. Either way, disputes on company cards run through the card scheme’s chargeback rules and your card agreement. Visa and Mastercard give up to 120 days from the transaction for most dispute types, but the deadline that binds you is the one in your issuer’s agreement, which may be shorter, so put it on the dispute task as a due date.
Why Run Card Reconciliations in CheckFlow?
A card register that stays current
Keep cardholders, managers, cost centres and limits in a data set that feeds the dropdowns. When someone leaves, the card cancellation task names the card and the person who must cancel it.
Open items that carry forward
Disputes, missing receipts and unpaid personal charges are recorded on the tasks with their evidence. The Tasks grid shows what each cardholder still owes, and the activity trail shows who approved what and when.
The card reconciliation is one of the inputs to a clean close. The Month-End Close Checklist picks up the reconciled card liability, the Expense Reimbursement Checklist handles out-of-pocket claims, and the Expense Audit Checklist tests a sample of both each quarter.
CheckFlow is not a card platform or an expense management tool: it does not issue cards, import transactions or match receipts. Your issuer’s portal and expense software do that. CheckFlow runs the monthly routine around them, with every step assigned, dated and signed off. See how recurring checklists work.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do you reconcile a corporate credit card statement?
Download the statement at its closing date, get each cardholder to code every transaction and attach a receipt, have their manager review it, deal with disputes and personal charges, then agree the statement total to your card platform and to the card liability account in the ledger. The controller signs off and the balance is paid by the due date.
What is the difference between company liability and individual liability cards?
With company liability, the issuer bills the company, which pays the whole statement and reconciles every transaction. With individual liability, the cardholder is billed, pays the issuer and claims business charges back through expenses. Joint and several arrangements bill the cardholder but make the company liable if they do not pay.
What should happen when an employee loses a receipt?
Ask for a duplicate from the merchant first. Failing that, the cardholder signs a missing-receipt declaration with the date, merchant, amount and business purpose, and the policy should limit how often that is allowed. In the UK, no VAT can be reclaimed without a valid VAT invoice. In the US, IRS rules require documentary evidence for all lodging and for other expenses of $75 or more.
Can we reclaim VAT using the credit card statement?
No. A card statement shows that you paid, not what the supplier charged VAT on, so you need the supplier’s VAT invoice. The exception is purchasing card programmes that provide VAT invoices on suppliers’ behalf under the arrangements in HMRC’s VAT Notice 701/48. If an invoice arrives late, claim the VAT in the period you receive it.
How long do we have to dispute a corporate card charge?
Check your card agreement, because the issuer’s deadline is the one that binds you. Visa and Mastercard allow up to 120 days from the transaction for most dispute types, but an issuer can require notice sooner, and consumer protections such as Section 75 in the UK do not cover business cards. Raise disputes as soon as a cardholder flags a charge.
How are personal charges on a company card taxed?
If the employee repays them promptly, there is usually nothing to report. In the UK, personal spend the employer pays and does not recover is reported on the P11D, with Class 1 National Insurance through payroll. In the US, personal charges that are not repaid are taxable wages.
Is CheckFlow free for this template?
14-day free trial, no card required. The Business plan is $10 per user per month after the trial. Full details at checkflow.io/pricing.