Issuing and Managing Corporate Cards

Light corporate cards provide employees and vendors with virtual and physical payment cards for business expenses. Cards integrate with expense management for automatic reconciliation and spending control.

# Supported Regions

Light cards can be issued to entities in the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union.

# Cards Page Overview

The Cards page has three tabs:

• Transactions: View all card transactions. Default columns: Date, Merchant, Ledger account, Amount, Tax code, Entity. Additional columns available: Owner, Card, Posted, Receipt, Account, Description.
• Cards: View all issued cards. Columns: Owner, Vendor, Type, Card, Description, Spend, Account, Entity.
• Accounts: View card accounts. Columns: Account number, Account name, Currency, Entity, Cards connected, Spent this month, Available funds.

# Creating Cards

To create a new card, click + Create card from the Cards page. Light supports two card types:

# Employee Cards

Use for employee expenses like travel or supplies.

1. Click + Create card

2. Select Employee card

3. Toggle Physical card if you want a plastic card shipped to the cardholder. Virtual cards are issued instantly for online and contactless payments; physical cards require a shipping address and take several business days to arrive.

4. Fill in the details:

   • Owner: Select the employee from the dropdown
   • Authentication phone number: Phone number for 3D Secure verification
   • Card account: Select which card account to link
   • Card description: A label for this card (optional)
   • Limits: Select a limit interval (Unlimited, Per transaction, Weekly, or Monthly) and enter an amount
   • Shipping address (physical cards only): First name, Last name, Street, House number, Postal code, City, Country, and State or province (if applicable). The form pre-fills from the owner's profile if address information is available.

5. Click Create card (or Order card for physical cards)

Physical cards display a Physical badge on the card visual throughout Light.

# Vendor Cards

Use for recurring vendor payments like subscriptions.

1. Click + Create card

2. Select Vendor card

3. Toggle Physical card if you want a plastic card shipped to the cardholder. Virtual cards are issued instantly for online and contactless payments; physical cards require a shipping address and take several business days to arrive.

4. Fill in the details:

   • Owner: Select the card owner from the dropdown
   • Authentication phone number: Phone number for 3D Secure verification
   • Card account: Select which card account to link
   • Vendor: Select the vendor (or click Quick-add vendor to create one inline)
   • Card description: A label for this card (optional)
   • Limits: Select a limit interval (Unlimited, Per transaction, Weekly, or Monthly) and enter an amount
   • Shipping address (physical cards only): First name, Last name, Street, House number, Postal code, City, Country, and State or province (if applicable). The form pre-fills from the owner's profile if address information is available.

5. Click Create card (or Order card for physical cards)

# Card Accounts

Before issuing cards, you need at least one card account. To create one:

1. Go to the Accounts tab on the Cards page
2. Click + Create account
3. Fill in:
   • Entity selection: The company entity this account belongs to
   • Currency: The account currency
   • Account number: A 6-digit number used in your chart of accounts
   • Account name: A label for this account (auto-filled based on currency)
4. Click Create

Card accounts group cards together and control the funding source and entity association.

# Funding Your Card Account

Light card accounts are funded through Adyen. To add funds, transfer money to your Adyen wallet in the same currency as the account. Funds will be available as soon as Adyen receives and processes the transfer.

The total time also depends on how long your bank takes to process the transfer — this normally shouldn't be more than 2–3 days. If it's been longer than that, we recommend contacting Adyen directly to confirm they've received the funds.

# Managing Cards

# Viewing Cards

1. Navigate to Cards
2. Click a card row to open the card details drawer

The card details drawer shows:

• Card visual with last four digits and freeze status
• Balance: Remaining balance, limit term, spend vs. limit with progress bar
• Card details: Owner, 3DS Password (visible to card owner only). Click Show more to see phone, address, entity, account, and tax code.
• Recent transactions with a See all link

# Editing a Card

1. Open the card details drawer
2. Click Edit
3. Update the Owner and/or Limits
4. Click Save

# Freezing and Unfreezing Cards

Temporarily freeze a card without closing it:

1. Open the card details drawer
2. Click Freeze card
3. The card is immediately frozen — no transactions allowed

To unfreeze:

1. Click Activate card
2. For physical cards, you'll see a confirmation dialog: "By activating, you confirm you are in physical possession of your card." Click Activate to proceed.
3. The card is immediately active again

# Closing Cards

Permanently close a card:

1. Open the card details drawer
2. Click the three-dot menu (⋯)
3. Click Close card
4. Confirm in the dialog — this action cannot be undone

A closed card cannot be reactivated. Issue a new card if needed.

# Add to Wallet

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

# Transactions

# Viewing Transactions

Card transactions appear automatically in the Transactions tab:

1. Navigate to Cards → Transactions
2. Use the status filter and search bar to find specific transactions
3. Click a transaction to open its details

# Transaction Statuses

# Card Reconciliation

Card reconciliation works as follows:

1. Individual transactions are posted to the GL once captured (or refunded)
2. Each posted transaction includes an offsetting line against the ledger account of the card account it belongs to
3. Because card accounts are prepaid — funded by bank transfer to your Adyen wallet — there is no monthly card issuer bill to pay through Accounts Payable

# Reporting

Analyze card spending using the reports available under Planning & Reports → Reports. You can create custom reports to track card spending by employee, merchant, category, or time period. Export reports to CSV for further analysis.

# Related Articles

• Setting up Light cards (KYC)
• Virtual cards
• Expense management overview