Issuing and Managing Corporate Cards

What is this page about: This article walks through issuing and managing Light corporate cards, from setting up card accounts in the right order to issuing employee and vendor cards, funding them, and freezing, closing, or reconciling transactions. Use it if you're a company admin issuing cards for the first time, or a finance team member managing existing cards.

# On this page

• Supported Regions
• Cards Page Overview
• Setting Up Cards for the First Time
• Card Accounts
• Setting the Default Card Account
• Funding Your Card Account
• Creating Cards
• Managing Cards
• Transactions and Reconciliation
• Reporting
• Related Articles

# Supported Regions

Physical cards ship only to addresses in the EEA and the United Kingdom, and they aren't available on US dollar card accounts. Use virtual cards on a US dollar account.

# Cards Page Overview

Go to Spend management → Cards. This is the admin page for every card in your company. Cards under Personal opens a separate page that shows only your own cards.

The admin page has three tabs.

• Transactions: every card transaction. Default columns are Date, Merchant, Ledger account, Amount, Tax code, Entity, and Status. Add Owner, Card, Receipt, Account, or Description as needed.
• Cards: every issued card. Default columns are Card, Owner, Vendor, Type, Description, and Spend. Add Form (Virtual or Physical), Delivery status, Account, or Entity as needed.
• Accounts: every card account. Columns are Account number, Account name, Currency, Entity, Cards connected, Spent this month, and Available funds. The status filter shows Active accounts by default. Switch it to Closed to see closed accounts.

# Setting Up Cards for the First Time

Set Light cards up in this order. Each step depends on the one before it.

1. Verify your entity. Complete KYC for the entity with Adyen, Light's card issuer. See Setting Up Light Cards (KYC).
2. Create a card account for the entity.
3. Set the entity's default card account and default limits.
4. Fund the card account.
5. Create cards.

Company Admins create card accounts and set the default card account.

# Card Accounts

You need at least one card account before you can issue any cards. A card account groups cards together and sets their funding source and entity. For a Light cards account, the entity needs to finish KYC first. An External provider account needs only the entity.

1. On the Cards page, click + Create account at the top of the page.

2. Choose Light cards to issue cards through Light. External provider tracks cards issued by another provider in Light.

3. Fill in:

   • Entity selection: the company entity this account belongs to.
   • Currency: the account's currency.
   • Account number: a 6-digit number used in your chart of accounts.
   • Account name: a label, auto-filled based on currency.

4. Click Create.

# Setting the Default Card Account

When employees create their own expense card, Light draws it from the entity's default card account. Set the default before anyone creates a card from their own Cards page. Until it's set, they see "This company entity does not have a default card balance account set."

1. Go to Settings → Entities and open the entity.

2. In the Cards section, click Continue. Once a default is set, this button reads Edit.

3. In Card settings, fill in:

   • Default expense account: the card account new employee cards draw from. The list shows the entity's active card accounts, so create one first.
   • Limit term: Unlimited, Monthly, Weekly, or Per transaction.
   • Limit amount: the default limit for new employee cards. You can change each card's limit later.
   • Automatically post all transactions to ledger: turn this on to post every card transaction to the ledger automatically.

4. Click Save.

# Funding Your Card Account

Light card accounts run on prepaid funds through Adyen. Transfer money to your Adyen wallet in the same currency as the account, and Light makes the funds available as soon as Adyen processes the transfer.

Your bank's transfer time adds on top of that, typically no more than 2 to 3 days. If it's taking longer, contact Adyen directly to confirm they've received the funds.

# Creating Cards

Light supports two card types: employee cards and vendor cards. The Create card form opens with Vendor card selected.

# Employee Cards

Use an employee card for individual spend, such as travel or supplies.

1. On the Cards page, click + Create card.

2. Select Employee card.

3. Toggle Physical card if the cardholder needs a plastic card. Virtual cards work immediately for online and contactless payments. Physical cards need a shipping address and take several business days to arrive.

4. Fill in the card details:

   • Owner: the employee this card belongs to.
   • Authentication phone number: used for 3D Secure verification.
   • Card account: the account this card draws from.
   • Card description (optional): a label for the card.
   • Limits: choose an interval (Unlimited, Per transaction, Weekly, or Monthly) and enter an amount. Monthly is selected by default.
   • Shipping address (physical cards only): first name, last name, street, house number, postal code, city, country, and state or province where applicable. Light pre-fills this from the owner's profile if the information is already there.

5. Click Create card, or Order card for a physical card.

A physical card shows a Physical badge on its card visual throughout Light.

Employees can also create their own expense card from Cards under Personal, using Create expense card. That card draws from the entity's default card account.

# Vendor Cards

Use a vendor card for recurring payments to a single vendor, such as a subscription.

1. On the Cards page, click + Create card.

2. Keep Vendor card selected. Vendor cards are virtual and work immediately.

3. Fill in the card details:

   • Owner: who the card belongs to.
   • Authentication phone number: used for 3D Secure verification.
   • Card account: the account this card draws from.
   • Vendor: select an existing vendor, or click Quick-add vendor to create one without leaving the form.
   • Card description (optional): a label for the card.
   • Limits: choose an interval and amount, same options as employee cards.

4. Click Create card.

# Managing Cards

# Viewing a Card

1. Open Cards.
2. Click a card row to open its details.

The card details drawer shows:

• Card visual: last four digits and freeze status.
• Balance: remaining balance, limit term, and spend against limit as a progress bar.
• Card details: owner and 3DS password (visible to the card owner only). Click Show more for phone number, address, entity, account, and tax code.
• Recent transactions, with a See all link to the full list.

# Editing a Card

1. Open the card's details drawer.
2. Click Edit.
3. Update the owner, the limits, or both.
4. Click Save.

# Freezing and Unfreezing a Card

Freezing blocks a card without closing it.

1. Open the card's details drawer.
2. Click Freeze card. The card blocks all transactions immediately.

To unfreeze:

1. Click Unfreeze card.
2. For a physical card, confirm the prompt titled Activate physical card: "By activating, you confirm you are in physical possession of your card." Click Activate.
3. The card is active again immediately.

# Closing a Card

Closing is permanent.

1. Open the card's details drawer.
2. Click the three-dot menu.
3. Click Close card.
4. Confirm. This cannot be undone. To give the cardholder a working card again, issue a new one.

# Adding a Card to a Mobile Wallet

Employee card owners can add their card to Apple Pay or Google Pay from the card details drawer, using Add to wallet.

# Transactions and Reconciliation

# Viewing Transactions

1. Open Cards, then the Transactions tab.
2. Use the status filter or search bar to find a specific transaction.
3. Click a transaction to see its details.

# Transaction Statuses

# How Reconciliation Works

1. Light posts a transaction to the ledger once it's Captured or Refunded.
2. Each posted transaction includes an offsetting line against the ledger account tied to its card account.
3. Because card accounts are prepaid, funded by bank transfer to your Adyen wallet, card spend settles as it happens and never reaches Accounts Payable as a monthly issuer bill.

# Reporting

To analyze card spend, export the card transaction data as CSV from the Transactions tab on the Cards page, then work with it in your spreadsheet or reporting tool of choice.

# Related Articles

• Setting Up Light Cards (KYC)
• Virtual Cards
• Expense Management Overview

Also searched as: company card, business card, virtual card, issue a card, freeze/close a card, card limits, card reconciliation, Adyen funding.