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Is administration really a necessary evil?
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Company credit cards are better for cashflow and are slightly less risky from
a security standpoint, although still open to misuse and abuse. The inherent
administration, however, can be daunting. Receipts must be obtained and
kept for all transactions, which then have to be reconciled with the credit
card statements. The statements themselves have to be scoured for
anything untoward. The whole process takes more time and is vulnerable
to human error in the form of lost or forgotten receipts.
Ideally, your refuelling administration would centre upon a single weekly
invoice covering the entire fleet, with automatic direct debit payment.
Details should be easily available of every transaction, for every vehicle.
With no collection of receipts, invoices sent digitally and automatic payment,
it would be normal to keep every vehicle refuelled without generating any
paperwork. This is the standard process model for commercial rate fuel cards.
Action point:
Audit your fuel procurement. Analyse how much paper
it generates, how many people internally have to deal
with the administration and calculate the total time
involved. Add this figure to total refuelling bills for a
realistic cost of not using the right fuel card.
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Best practice in fleet management - Issue 03
