Better together: How finance partnerships improve cash flow

Finance touches every part of your business. Whether it’s marketing pushing for more budget or sales asking how far they can go with discounts, finance sits at the centre of it all.

But the relationship between finance and other teams isn’t always as strong as it should be. Too often, finance is siloed – seen as overly cautious rather than a key driver of growth.

Strengthening this connection benefits everyone. When teams are more open about their needs, finance can plan ahead, improve cash flow and identify opportunities to optimise spending. At the same time, other departments gain a clearer understanding of budgets and how financial decisions are made.

So, how do you bring finance and the rest of the business closer together?

• Strong collaboration between finance and other teams leads to better cash flow, as finance gains clearer visibility into future spending and business needs.
• Breaking down silos helps shift finance from a control function to a strategic partner that supports smarter decision-making across the business.
• Clear communication, simple processes and well-defined policies reduce confusion, improve trust and make it easier for teams to work together.
• The right tools, like Pleo, remove friction from everyday spending, giving finance real-time visibility whilst making life easier for employees.

Be deliberate in sharing information

The finance function is often viewed as being tucked away, keeping themselves to themselves and tapping away on archaic spreadsheets, which makes it hard for people to understand what they’re actually doing day to day.

Finance members could start by making a commitment to share important information and updates in company meetings.

Why not have a weekly or monthly ‘town hall’ which brings everyone together to learn how the business is performing, with a 10-minute slot for finance updates? Make sure that presentations are recorded and available online in case anyone is unable to attend.

It’s crucial that any info you share is easy to understand, and not just from the perspective of a finance team member. Try to avoid using complicated phrases and acronyms – not everyone is going to know the difference between ARR and EBITDA. If you need to use acronyms, make sure you add a glossary containing all the definitions and explanations.

Be an active listener

This is one for the office goers.

When you’re making coffee in the kitchen or eating lunch in the breakout area, listen to what your colleagues are saying about finance.

• What are people complaining about?
• Which financial process is causing them stress this week?
• Do they have any concerns about finance you can put to rest?

The more you pick up on, the better you’ll be at effecting change before you’re asked to. It’s this kind of proactive behaviour that will encourage people to come and talk to you if they don’t agree with the way something is being done or have ideas for improvement.

If you’re a remote worker, why not try an online Q&A to give people a chance to get things off their chest? Organise a monthly Zoom meeting with one or two members of the finance team and encourage people to join if there’s anything they’re unsure about. The more clarity people have about your processes, the more time you’ll save explaining things to them. You could even create a dedicated questions and suggestions channel over Slack or Teams, for example.

Have a clear expense policy in place

A good expense policy should cover as many scenarios as possible, in order to leave as little room as possible for questions, confusion and overspending.

Maybe your team travels a lot for work. In this case, your policy should clearly state how much employees can spend each day on things like food, drinks, travel and accommodation. If you don’t want your employees splashing out on taxis, restrict expenses to public transport only. Failing to stipulate what spending is within company policy can lead to employees spending more than you’d like them to. Remember – what might seem ‘reasonable’ to one person might be totally different to another.

Use Pleo’s expense policy builder to create your own spending guidelines from scratch. Make sure you keep new joiners (and existing employees) in the loop about any changes to the guidelines to prevent overspending.

Communicate your plans for the future

Finance is no longer just about tracking what’s already happened – it’s about shaping what happens next.

Today’s finance leaders play a central role in guiding business strategy. With access to real-time data and better visibility over company spending, finance teams are uniquely positioned to spot trends, identify risks and highlight opportunities early. That means working closely with leadership.

When finance is embedded in strategic decision-making, businesses can:

• Plan more accurately using real-time financial insights
• Allocate budgets based on actual performance, not guesswork
• Respond faster to changes in the market
• Balance growth ambitions with financial stability

It also shifts the perception of finance across the organisation. Instead of being seen as a control function, finance becomes a strategic partner that helps teams make smarter decisions.

The key to making this work is freeing up time from manual tasks and giving finance teams the tools they need to focus on higher-value work. When that happens, finance can move beyond reporting the numbers – and start driving the direction of the business.

Make money easier for everyone

For many employees, interactions with finance tend to revolve around reminders – chasing receipts, submitting expenses or meeting month-end deadlines. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

With the right tools in place, managing company spending can become a smooth, collaborative process rather than a source of friction.

With Pleo, employees can simply pay for what they need, snap a photo of the receipt and upload it in seconds. They can add notes, categories or tags to give context, whilst finance teams get real-time visibility into spending without chasing information.

Employees aren’t left out of pocket, and finance teams spend less time on manual admin and more time focusing on higher-value work – check out how we helped Baltic Assist spend nearly 80% less time on manual expenses!

But the impact goes beyond efficiency.

When spending is simple, transparent and easy to manage, it naturally improves the relationship between finance and the rest of the business. Communication becomes easier, trust grows and everyone gains a clearer understanding of how money flows through the organisation.

And that’s what better cash flow management really comes down to: not just the numbers, but how well your teams work together to manage them.