Secure offboarding: How to revoke spend access in one click

Offboarding an employee is more than just an HR task. It’s a financial and security priority.

Company cards, subscriptions and expense access all need to be handled carefully. If access isn’t revoked in time, you risk unauthorised spend, data exposure or disrupted business operations.

At the same time, offboarding needs to be fast. No one wants to manually track down cards or log into multiple systems just to remove access.

With Pleo, you can revoke spend access instantly and handle the entire offboarding process from one place.

Here’s how to do it properly.

Key takeaways:

• Revoke access instantly. Disable users and freeze all associated cards in one click from the People section.
• Pause access without disruption. Freeze cards for temporary situations like leave or investigations.
• Automate offboarding at scale. Connect your HR system to ensure access is revoked automatically when employees leave.
• Secure accounts in emergencies. Use the Lock Account feature to stop all activity immediately if needed.
• Keep business-critical payments running. Reassign vendor cards before removing users to avoid service interruptions.
• Close the loop on expenses. Review and reconcile outstanding transactions after access is removed.

What does secure offboarding involve?

Offboarding isn’t just about stopping someone from spending.

It’s about:

• Removing access to company funds
• Protecting financial data
• Ensuring subscriptions and payments continue uninterrupted
• Closing off outstanding expenses cleanly

Without a clear process, it’s easy to miss something – especially in growing teams or distributed organisations.

With Pleo, everything sits in one place, making it easy to act quickly and confidently.

How to revoke spend access in one click with Pleo

1. Revoke access via the People Overview

The fastest way to stop an individual's spending is through the central user management dashboard.

In the Pleo web app or mobile app:

1. Go to the People section
2. Select the employees you wish to offboard
3. Click Delete User or Revoke Access

This instantly:

• Freezes all physical and virtual cards
• Logs the user out of the Pleo app
• Removes their ability to make purchases or view company data

Access is cut off immediately – no delays, no gaps.

2. Freeze cards for temporary suspension

Not every situation requires full offboarding. There are other reasons you might need to revoke access.

If an employee is:

• On leave
• Between roles
• Under review
• Or involved in suspicious activity

You can freeze their cards instead.

From the user's profile in the People section, toggle the card status to Frozen. Spending stops instantly, but the setup remains intact.

If the employee returns, you can unfreeze their cards just as quickly – no need to issue new ones or rebuild permissions.

3. Automate offboarding with HRIS integration

Manual offboarding works – until it doesn’t. As teams grow, relying on someone to remember to revoke access creates risk.

By integrating Pleo with your HR system, you can automate the process entirely.

When an employee is marked as ‘Terminated’ or ‘Left’:

• Their Pleo account is automatically deactivated
• Cards are frozen or destroyed
• Access is removed on their final day

This ensures consistency, reduces admin and eliminates the risk of missed steps.

4. Use the Lock Account feature for emergencies

In high-risk situations, speed matters. If you suspect fraud, a security breach or unauthorised access, you can use the Lock Account feature.

This will:

• Log the user out of all active sessions
• Freeze all cards immediately
• Reset their passcode

It’s the fastest way to fully secure an account when something doesn’t look right.

5. Reassign vendor cards

Before deleting a user, check if they own any vendor cards.

These are often linked to:

• Ad platforms like Google Ads
• SaaS subscriptions
• Recurring business tools

If these cards aren’t reassigned, payments may fail, which can disrupt campaigns or services.

Simply transfer ownership to another team member to keep everything running smoothly.

6. Final review of outstanding expenses

Once access is revoked, you still have full visibility of the user’s past transactions.

To wrap things up:

1. Go to the Export page
2. Filter by the offboarded user
3. Review their outstanding expenses

Make sure:

• All receipts are attached
• Transactions are categorised correctly
• Everything is ready for export and reconciliation

Pro tip: Ask employees to upload their final receipts before you revoke access, as they will lose access to the mobile app immediately.

From manual processes to instant control

Offboarding is one of those processes that seems simple – until something gets missed. A card stays active longer than it should. A subscription fails because ownership wasn’t transferred. An account remains accessible after someone leaves.

These gaps are usually the result of manual processes spread across different systems. And as companies grow, those risks increase.

The advantage of managing spend through Pleo is that everything is centralised.

• Cards
• Users
• Permissions
• Transactions

This means offboarding becomes a single action, not a checklist across multiple tools.

You don’t need to track down physical cards, log into different platforms or manually remove access in multiple places.

Instead, you act once – and the system handles the rest.

Offboarding best practices

To keep your process secure and consistent, a few good habits go a long way.

1. Act immediately
   Revoke access as soon as an employee leaves – delay creates unnecessary risk.
2. Automate where possible
   HRIS integrations ensure nothing is missed
3. Always check vendor card ownership
   Keep critical payments running without interruption.
4. Review final expenses promptly
   Close the loop quickly to avoid month-end complications.
5. Use freezing strategically
   Not every situation requires full removal – flexibility helps.

Secure offboarding without the stress

Offboarding doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. With the right setup, it becomes a fast, controlled and predictable process.

With Pleo, you can:

• Revoke access instantly
• Protect company funds and data
• Keep essential payments running
• And close out expenses cleanly

All from one place. This way, you can offboard employees with confidence, knowing everything is handled the moment you click.