What is the Expense & Spend Management Plus add-on? (Team Spend Controls add-on)

  • Updated

Focus your time only on expenses that matter. Offer yourself flexibility, control only what matters. Streamline your expense management with advanced controls. Optimize your team's time by focusing only on significant expenses, while maintaining flexibility and control where it matters most.

This add-on is available to Owners and Admins, accessible from 💻 web and 📱 mobile, for customers on Essential, Business and Enterprise plans.

From October 2026, Expense & Spend Management Plus add-on is replaced by Team Spend Controls. Several features from Expense & Spend Management Plus will move into Qonto plans at no extra cost (see the section below).

 

What does the add-on include?

Expense & Spend Management Plus (€89/month monthly · €69/month annual) currently includes:

  • Subscription detection & renewal alerts
  • Budget tracking for teams
  • Unlimited cards (virtual, ad, instant)
  • Advanced Manager role
  • Approval workflows (transfers, expense reports, supplier invoices)
  • 4-eyes dual approval policy
  • Advanced card settings (spending categories, usage days)
  • Auto-block cards for missing receipts
  • HRIS software integration

Team Spend Controls (€49/month monthly · €39/month annual) includes:

  • Advanced permissions for Manager role
  • Approval workflows (transfers, expense reports, supplier invoices)
  • 4-eyes dual approval policy
  • Advanced card settings (spending categories, usage days)
  • Auto-block cards on missing receipts
  • HRIS integrations

 

What features are moving into Qonto plans for free?

From October 2026, the following features will be included in plans and will no longer require any add-on:

  • From Smart: Expense reports (expenses)
  • From Premium: Subscription detection & renewal alerts
  • From Essential: Basic manager role, team cards with limits (virtual, ad, instant), expense reports (mileage), transfer & card requests, budget tracking
  • From Business: Unlimited cards (virtual, ad, instant)

This means that if you are currently using Expense & Spend Management Plus for these features, you will retain access to them through your plan after October — at no additional cost.

 

What is the difference between Basic and Advanced Manager roles?

The add-on introduces the Advanced Manager role, which builds on the permissions already included in the Basic Manager role.

Both the Basic and Advanced Manager roles follow the same setup flow: choose an access type (team-only or company-wide), configure account, payment and team permissions. Advanced Manager surfaces more delegable controls.

Basic Manager (included in eligible plans) can be granted:

  • Access team transactions only, or company-wide access [Customizable]
  • Manage clients and client invoices [Customizable]
  • Create, delete, and edit cards and review card requests [Customizable]
  • Make transfers and reimbursements [Customizable]
  • Manage suppliers and supplier invoices [Customizable]
  • Invite team members as Employees [Customizable]

Advanced Manager (requires add-on) has all Basic Manager permissions, plus access to additional permissions:

  • View selected account balances, IBAN, and download statements [Customizable]
  • Manage bookkeeping [Customizable]
  • Set up and suspend direct debit mandates [Customizable]
  • Deposit checks [Customizable]

☝️ The distinction between roles is the scope of delegable permissions. Advanced Manager unlocks visibility and control over bookkeeping, account balances and IBANs, direct debit mandates, and check deposits — options that are simply not available for the Basic Manager.

 

What is an approval workflow?

An approval workflow is a structured process that manages spending requests from initiation to final decision. It allows you to define who needs to review and approve specific types of expenses — such as transfers, supplier invoices, or reimbursement requests — before they are executed.

You can create multiple workflows tailored to different teams, thresholds, or expense types. Each workflow defines the approvers, the order of review, and the conditions that trigger it.

To add an extra layer of payment security on top of your approval workflows, you can also enable the 4-eyes dual approval policy (see the next section).

For setup instructions, refer to our dedicated article: How to customize approval workflows for transfer, reimbursement requests, and supplier invoices.

 

What is the 4-eyes dual approval policy?

The 4-eyes dual approval policy is a security control that ensures no single person can both prepare and execute a payment — not even an Owner or Admin.

It works alongside your approval workflow: while the approval workflow handles business validation (reviewing and approving a request), the 4-eyes policy ensures a second person always validates the final payment execution. The person who initiates or prepares a payment is always blocked from being the one to execute it.

This policy applies to:

  • Transfers
  • Supplier invoices
  • Expense reports

For setup instructions, refer to our dedicated article: How do I set up a 4-eye policy for payments?

 

What happens if I remove the add-on?

Removing the add-on will not affect your access to standard Qonto features — your account continues to work as normal.

Here is what changes when you remove the add-on:

  • Approval workflows will pause and return to standard format
  • Advanced Manager permissions will revert to Basic Manager level
  • HRIS integrations and missing receipt rules will be deactivated
  • [For Expense & Spend Management Plus add-on] Budget management settings will no longer be applied to new transactions

With monthly billing, you can remove the add-on at any time and lose access at the start of your next billing cycle. With annual billing, features remain active until the end of your billing period, with no mid-term reimbursement available.

To manage your add-on, go to:

  • 💻 Web: Settings > Billing and invoices (under Organization) and select the add-on
  • 📱 Mobile: Menu > Settings > Price plan (under Organization) and select the add-on