1010 · Cards and spend management
Corporate cards with Mercury
Autessa Accounting includes corporate card management for Mercury: issue Mercury virtual credit or debit cards, set a limit and how often it resets, freeze and unfreeze, move a card to another department and cancel it, all from the same app that keeps your books. Every card belongs to a department, so every charge is coded and counted against a budget the day it happens.
The problem
Cards get issued in one place and accounted for somewhere else
When cards live in the bank and the books live in an accounting tool, nobody knows which team a charge belongs to until month end, and a card nobody owns keeps spending. Autessa Accounting ties each card to a department, a default coding and a budget at the moment it is issued.
What you get
- Issue a Mercury virtual card from Accounting: credit or debit, a cardholder, a nickname, what it is for, a department, an optional project and default category.
- Limits reset per day, per week, per month, per year, or never (a total).
- The Cards list shows every card, Mercury or tracked, with its department, limit, spend this period and guardrail state.
- Filter cards by status (active, frozen, paused, cancelled, closed), by provider (Mercury, other banks, agent cards) and by department.
- Cancelling a card asks you to type its last four digits to confirm.
- Each card page shows spend against its limit, the department budget, recent transactions and its guardrail history.
- Editing a card’s department, project or default category changes how future charges are coded; charges already coded keep their coding.
How it works
How does corporate cards with mercury work in Autessa Accounting?
Issue the card
From Cards, choose Add a card, then Issue a Mercury card. Pick the cardholder, card type, limit and reset, and the department whose budget it spends from. The card is created in Mercury right away.
Charges arrive coded
Every 15 minutes Mercury sync brings in new charges. The card’s department, project and default category are applied first, before any rule or suggestion.
Watch it against budget
The card page shows spend against the limit and the department’s budget position, so you see a problem before the month ends.
Change it when things change
Change the limit, freeze or unfreeze, reassign the department, or cancel. A limit lowered by a budget guardrail is labeled, and the original is remembered.
Every option
Card fields and actions
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Card type | Credit or debit (Mercury virtual card). |
| Cardholder | The Mercury user the card is issued to. |
| Nickname and purpose | How the card reads in lists, and what it is for. |
| Limit and reset | An amount that resets per day, week, month or year, or a total with no reset. |
| Coding | Department (required), project and default category (optional). |
| Statuses | Active, frozen, paused, cancelled, closed. |
| Actions | Change limit, freeze, unfreeze, edit coding, reassign department, cancel (type the last four digits). |
Permissions
Who can do what?
| Role | Can |
|---|---|
| Controller | Issue cards, change limits, freeze, unfreeze, reassign and cancel. |
| Admin | Everything a Controller can, plus the Mercury connection itself. |
| Cardholder (everyone) | See the cards they hold and their spend, and request a new card. |
Connected
How it connects to the rest of Accounting
ACCOUNTING FEATURE
Budget guardrails
Tighten or freeze a department’s Mercury cards automatically when it runs over budget.
ACCOUNTING FEATURE
Card requests
Approving a request issues the Mercury card with the requested limit and coding.
ACCOUNTING FEATURE
Mercury bank sync
Brings every charge in every 15 minutes and writes your coding back to Mercury.
ACCOUNTING FEATURE
Agent cards
Small, single-purpose cards with merchant rules and an expiry date.
FAQ
Questions about corporate cards with mercury
Can Autessa Accounting issue company cards?
Yes, Mercury virtual cards. Connect Mercury and Accounting issues credit or debit virtual cards with a limit, a reset period and a department. For cards from other banks, Accounting tracks them instead.
Can I freeze a card from Accounting?
Yes, for Mercury cards. Freezing, unfreezing and limit changes go straight to Mercury. Freezing a tracked card from another bank is bookkeeping only; freeze it with its issuer to stop spending.
What happens to past charges if I move a card to another department?
They keep their coding. Editing a card changes how future charges are coded, so history stays as it was approved.
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