Overview
Align Work Health replaced a messy, manual company spend process, shared director cards, prepaid cards in vehicles, and paper statements, with Budgetly’s controlled cards and Xero sync. The result: fewer missing expenses, far stronger visibility, and hours of admin time saved each week.
Challenges
Before Budgetly, expense management was a mix of workarounds that didn’t scale:
- Shared cards and low accountability: One credit card account shared from the directors, a “wild west” approach to business spend.
- Prepaid cards with manual upkeep: Cards kept in cars (e.g. Australia Post cards) that required manual top-ups and ongoing admin.
- Paper trails and missing expenses: Receipts collected manually, transactions entered into Xero by hand, and paper statements to reconcile.
- Time-heavy bookkeeping: The bookkeeper spent 4 to 5 hours per week on manual expense admin.
The biggest challenge was simple: too much time spent chasing information, with too much risk of expenses being missed.
What was at stake
As Align Work Health grew, the cost of manual expense handling grew with it, and the process became increasingly hard to control.
- Not scalable: More spending meant more receipts, more gaps, more time, and more complexity.
- More opportunity for missed expenses: Manual entry and paper statements created room for errors and omissions.
Why Budgetly
Align Work Health began looking for an expense management solution after a business consultant recommended finding a better approach.
They considered options including Zella and another alternative, but Budgetly stood out for two core reasons:
- Transparent pricing and functionality
- Built for local business needs (not an overseas provider)
The solution
With Budgetly, Align Work Health moved from shared cards and paper-based reconciliation to a modern spend process built for control and visibility.
Today, the team uses Budgetly to:
- Assign cards to vehicles (not people) to match the way work actually happens
- Automatically sync spend to Xero so expenses don’t go missing
- Get real-time control and visibility over business spend without the manual admin
“It’s 100% solved all those issues, the direct sync with Xero means expenses aren’t missing now, and the control and visibility is fantastic.”
Brad Stevens, Chief Strategy Officer
Results
1. ~5 hours per week saved on expense admin
What used to take hours each week is now handled in minutes.
- Before: ~5 hours/week of manual receipt collection, entry, and reconciliation
- Now: “no longer hours, more minutes”
2. Cleaner books and fewer missing expenses
By syncing directly with Xero, the team reduced the risk of expenses being missed and improved month-end confidence.
3. Better control without slowing the business down
Budgetly helped Align Work Health put clear guardrails around spend while keeping day-to-day work moving.
4. Support that actually shows up
Align Work Health highlighted the responsiveness and quality of Budgetly’s support across the team.
“Everybody is fantastic at Budgetly, from account managers to developers. Response time is fantastic.”
Would they recommend Budgetly?
Yes, and already have.
“I’ve recommended Budgetly to others many times.”
Company snapshot
- Industry: Healthcare
- Staff: 12
- Accounting software: Xero (direct sync)
