We recently dropped a new feature that gives your accountant view-only access to your Cape account, so they can download transaction data, access receipts, and reconcile transactions with Xero.

It’s one of the most requested features from customers, making it all the more exciting.

This announcement got us thinking, do our customers understand the various user roles in their Cape account and how they can best utilise them?

After chatting with a few customers, we realised that a blog explaining how Cape’s user roles work would help you get more from the product. After all, you don’t want everyone in your team to have control over expense policy changes, card issuance, and accounting data!

Keep reading to explore Cape’s three user levels in more detail.

Admin

Admin is the highest level of user. Typically, the Admin user is the CFO, primary cardholder, and budget controller. 

If you’re a Cape Admin user, you have complete control over how your team uses their Cape corporate cards and manages expenses. You can transact using your account’s primary card, create new users (cardholders and accountants), set up spend controls, allocate budget based on your total credit limit, monitor spending patterns, analyse transaction data across the entire organisation, and access receipts uploaded by your team.

Cardholder

A Cardholder is someone in your team that has been issued a company credit card and is responsible for making purchases on behalf of your organisation. Cardholders are typically employees who travel frequently or have other business-related expenses. 

As a Cape Cardholder, you can transact using your Cape card, review transactions in your account via the web or mobile app, upload and match receipts to transactions, and monitor your spending limit, so you don’t go over budget.

Accountant (NEW)

The newest Cape user role is ‘Accountant.’ The Accountant is a user who is responsible for reviewing and approving expenses submitted by Cardholders. 

Accountants can access a view-only version of your Cape account to ensure that expenses comply with company policies and are within budget limits. They can then sync transactions with your accounting software, reconcile expenses with receipts, and manage the administrative side of spending on your corporate cards.

An Accountant is the one user role that won’t have a card, so they can’t spend on your account, change expense policies, or create new users like an Admin can. However, they can download transaction data, view spending patterns, and analyse all cardholders in your account. 

Creating visibility without losing control 

Expense management is a complex ecosystem to manage. Most businesses have internal and external stakeholders that need varying access levels to their Cape accounts, which is why we have the three user levels discussed above. 

Each level has different tasks and responsibilities, and together they help to ensure that your expenses are managed efficiently and effectively. 

By using Cape’s software and various user levels, you can streamline your expense reporting and reimbursement processes, saving time and money while improving transparency and compliance.