For enterprise controllers managing complex financial operations, building a robust spend culture isn't optional—it's essential. The challenge lies in maintaining control and visibility while empowering teams to move quickly.
This article explores how 12 leading companies have transformed their financial operations and built stronger spend controls with the help of modern automation. From family offices managing hundreds of entities to dental networks processing thousands of invoices monthly, these organizations offer a blueprint for enterprise controllers looking to scale without sacrificing control.
What is spend culture, and why does it matter for enterprise controllers?
Spend culture describes the shared beliefs, values, and practices that guide how an organization spends money. For enterprise controllers, it's about embedding financial policies and decision-making into daily operations so that every dollar spent supports strategic goals.
Building a strong spend culture requires more than just setting policies. It requires the right tools to enforce those policies automatically, provide real-time visibility into spending, and empower employees to make good decisions without creating bottlenecks.
The enterprise controller's challenge
Enterprise controllers face a unique set of pressures. They need to maintain tight financial controls across complex organizations while supporting rapid growth and operational flexibility. Manual processes simply can't keep pace with these demands.
The companies profiled below have found that modern financial automation creates the foundation for a healthy spend culture. By automating routine tasks, enforcing approval workflows, and providing real-time visibility, these tools help controllers maintain control without becoming a bottleneck.
12 enterprise companies that transformed their spend culture
The following case studies demonstrate how organizations across industries have used financial automation to build stronger spend controls while improving efficiency. Each company faced different challenges, but all found that the right technology enabled them to scale their financial operations effectively.
1. Mark Cuban Companies: Managing 100 entities with one AP clerk
Mark Cuban Companies encompasses approximately 100 entities and hundreds of investments under one umbrella. Director of Finance Josh Hull inherited a financial operation that relied on "sheer willpower" to keep track of monthly AP.
"When I first came on board, every emailed invoice across all those entities ran through one inbox that was monitored by hand," Hull explains. "We had two clerks who would troll the inbox every day. … Out of a 40-hour week, those two clerks spent at least half their time in that inbox."
The organization also maintained pre-printed check stock for 75 different checking accounts—a significant security risk. After implementing BILL, Hull reduced AP staff from two clerks to one while managing all 100 entities without overtime. The team eliminated pre-printed checks entirely and achieved 90-95% accuracy in invoice processing through AI and OCR.
"BILL has been so good to us. It's light years ahead," Hull says. "A lot of family offices have very antiquated processes and procedures. … I would encourage anybody to try it because it's worth it."
2. Guardian Dentistry Partners: Scaling a dental network to 136 practices
Guardian Dentistry Partners supports a network of 136 general dental practices across 11 states including Alabama, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. As a rapidly growing dental partnership network, they needed a solution that could scale with their acquisition strategy while maintaining HIPAA compliance.
Peter Yu, Head of Accounting, processes more than 15,000 bills monthly across all locations. “I basically put Guardian onto BILL right away,” Yu recalls. “It was seamless from there.”
The organization also implemented BILL Spend & Expense to manage spending across 200 cardholders. With BILL Spend & Expense, Guardian can see what all 200 of their BILL Divvy Card users are spending, in real time. The convenience of the mobile app, combined with seamless integration with Sage Intacct, has significantly reduced month-end close time.
“Our growth has been through acquisition—and BILL has definitely played a big role in that,” says Yu.
3. Bombas: Streamlining international payments at scale
Bombas, the apparel company known for its buy-one-give-one model, has grown to approximately $500 million in annual revenue while donating over 100 million items to people in need. With roughly 50% of payments going to international vendors—a percentage that increases during holiday seasons—the company needed a solution that could handle both domestic and international payments seamlessly.
Director of Accounting Operations Melissa Harris appreciates that BILL uses the same process for all payments. "BILL Accounts Payable does it all in one shot, using the same process for both domestic and international payments," she remarks. "It's been a much more seamless process with BILL than it has been with other AP systems I've used."
The automated approval workflow has been particularly valuable. "If someone volunteers for a community service activity, returning to work won't be stressful because BILL Accounts Payable is seamless," Harris says. "Even if you come back to 100 invoices, processing them won't take that long."
4. Cheney Brothers: Automating cash application for a $3.2B food distributor
Cheney Brothers is one of the largest foodservice distributors in the Southeast, with annual sales exceeding $3.2 billion. The company serves over 16,000 clients and employs more than 3,500 workers. Their challenge was reconciling high-volume, small-dollar payments with missing or messy remittance information.
"Reconciliation used to take so much manual intervention to track down missing or messy details in remittance files," explains Joe Carlson, Credit Manager. "With BILL, it's little to zero. I literally just drag and drop to our check system."
The implementation of BILL Supplier Payments Plus transformed their cash application process. "The integration with BILL has resulted in significant time savings, less manual intervention, and far more overall efficiency," Carlson shares. "Now, we get a single, customized remittance file with our payment and customer details from BILL."
5. Utah Jazz: Automating financial operations for an NBA franchise
The Utah Jazz, owned by Qualtrics co-founder Ryan Smith, uses BILL's API to streamline financial operations across their organizations. The integration has automated everything from reporting to payments, saving the franchise significant time each week.
"With the BILL API, we've automated everything from reporting to payments—saving the Utah Jazz hours of work each week," the organization reports. "We're now integrated across systems, and our financial operations are more streamlined across our organizations."
6. Tower 28 Beauty: From 300 invoices to 6,000 monthly
Tower 28 Beauty creates clean skincare and cosmetics for sensitive skin. Since launching in 2019, the company has expanded into all Sephora stores across the United States and Canada. Monthly transactions went from 600 in 2021 to over 3,000 today.
"Our finances were so frustrating in the beginning," recalls Victor, who handles finance operations. "If we needed a vendor onboarded or needed to pay a bill, we would email Amy, and she would look it over. … It was like five different emails for each invoice."
After implementing BILL, the company scaled from paying 300 invoices a month to over 6,000 while saving 40 hours per week. "If we had kept running our finances the way we were before, there's no way we would've been able to grow," Victor says. "I think, in a lot of ways, BILL allowed us to grow at the rate that we were able to."
7. BrüMate: Turning spend into a revenue stream
BrüMate, the drinkware company known for products like the BrüTank cooler, implemented BILL Spend & Expense to support their rapid e-commerce growth. Today, they have roughly 20 cardholders across finance, accounting, executive management, wholesale, marketing, and creative teams.
Jarrod Cox, CFO, explains how the platform supports their agile business model: "One of the unique things about working in an e-commerce company is how quickly things change on a daily basis. … BILL Spend & Expense has allowed us to be agile."
The company has also turned their business spending into a revenue stream. "Over the course of our relationship with BILL Spend & Expense, we produced nearly $400,000 worth of rewards* for us," Cox shares. "On a monthly basis, we're able to recycle the rewards that we get directly back into what pays for our creative marketing."
8. Blackstone: Scaling expense management while earning rewards
Blackstone, the outdoor cooking products company, transformed their financial operations with BILL Spend & Expense. Before implementation, transactions were never categorized, requiring manual matching of each expense with a receipt.
"Before BILL, I was spending probably three days at the end of each month going through all the credit card expenses," says Tracy Owens, who handles accounting. "Going from three days of trying to get through hundreds of transactions with a very small number of cardholders to being able to get it all done in three hours with over 40 cardholders is a huge time savings."
The company has also benefited significantly from the rewards program. "Through the end of March, we had earned over $60,000 in rewards* just from doing our everyday business," Owens shares. The ability to issue cards also eliminated petty cash. "We were probably up to $12,000 in petty cash every month, and the impact has been profound."
9. Ignite Medical Resorts: Streamlining AP and expense management across 23+ facilities
“I knew what we had was special,” says Shonna Hanscom, Executive Director for Ignite Medical Resorts, “but I don’t think I knew on day one just how big we were going to get, or how fast." What started with two facilities now includes 23—all separate legal entities—with more added every year.
Thanks to BILL, Hanscom was able to manage AP by herself from 2020 to 2022, during their most explosive period of growth. “Even when we had 16 facilities. I was stretched thin, but I did it. And I only did it because BILL is that easy to use. It's that flexible.”
Hanscom especially appreciates being able to screen bills right up front. “Before, we had to enter each bill in the system and tag people with questions. If we had to remove one, it was a whole ordeal. Now, we can have those conversations in the BILL inbox and prevent any incorrect bills from entering the system in the first place. That’s pure gold.”
10. LCBC Church: Modernizing expense management across 14 locations
LCBC Church has grown from one location to 14 throughout Pennsylvania, with average weekly attendance exceeding 17,000. As the congregation expanded, so did the time it took accounting staff to reconcile expenses.
"With our old system, people had to take an image of every receipt with their phone, send the images to their computer, convert them to PDF, then upload the files," explains Lauryn Fitch, LCBC accounting associate.
After implementing BILL Spend & Expense across all locations with 182 cardholders, the organization saw immediate improvements. "I estimate we save at least $30,000 a year just because of the time BILL Spend & Expense saves," Fitch says. "I've had experience in eight different expense management systems for credit cards, and BILL Spend & Expense is by far the best."
11. Wilbur Labs: From receipt chasers to financial analysts
Wilbur Labs is a Miami-based startup studio that builds companies from the ground up. Before implementing financial automation, the team was processing manual expense reports and paying around $100 per month for an expense reporting solution that wasn't keeping pace.
"It was a cumbersome process collecting receipts before BILL Spend & Expense," the team says. Keeping documentation consistent and timely was a major challenge.
After implementing BILL Spend & Expense, the organization saves 10+ hours and hundreds of dollars every month. More importantly, the shift has changed how the finance team operates. "We are now able to focus on analyzing and reporting trends," the team reports, having transformed from receipt chasers to financial analysts.
12. Five Nines: Securing spend in IT services
Five Nines, an IT services company, needed an expense management solution that their field technicians would actually use. The old platform created bottlenecks, with transactions taking 3-5 days to post.
"We had no control as a manager to see what our teams had for limits," explains Josh Palmer, Director of Finance.
After switching to BILL Spend & Expense, the month-end expense process became at least 90% more efficient, saving Palmer almost 5-7 hours per week. "Our industry protects everyone from cyber security incidents, so we want to make sure the platforms we use are just as secure," he notes. "So the mobile app and multi-factor authentication is phenomenal!"
Enterprise spend controls: Key metrics comparison
The following table summarizes the key results achieved by these 12 companies, demonstrating the measurable impact of implementing spend controls for finance teams.
Best practices for enterprise controllers implementing spend controls
The companies profiled above share several common approaches to building effective spend controls. Here's what enterprise controllers can learn from their experiences.
Automate approval workflows
- Use automated, multi-level approval routing to send invoices to the correct approvers without manual intervention.
- This maintains controller oversight without creating bottlenecks.
Example: Ambient Photonics requires three reviewers on every invoice before payment, ensuring accountability while keeping processes efficient.
Empower employees with controlled spending
- Provide employees with spending tools that include predefined limits and guardrails.
- Virtual cards with customizable budgets allow team leads to execute initiatives while finance retains visibility and control.
Example: BrüMate equips team leads with virtual cards, eliminating the need to share physical cards. As their CFO notes, this approach empowers teams while maintaining oversight.
Eliminate manual processes that create security risks
- Manual workflows, such as pre-printed check stock, increase fraud and security exposure.
- Automating payments reduces these risks and saves time.
Example: Mark Cuban Companies eliminated pre-printed checks entirely after implementing BILL, removing a major security vulnerability.
Integrate with existing accounting systems
- Seamless integration with accounting platforms prevents duplicate data entry and ensures financial accuracy.
- Common systems include Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, and NetSuite.
- Tight integrations keep financial records up to date and reduce reconciliation effort.
Capture receipts at the point of purchase
- Collect receipts in real time instead of chasing them after transactions occur.
- Mobile receipt capture improves documentation quality and reduces administrative work for finance teams.
- This shift significantly improves efficiency and compliance.
Building your spend culture with BILL
The 12 companies profiled above represent different industries, sizes, and challenges. But they all found that modern financial automation created the foundation for a healthy spend culture—one where controls are embedded in workflows rather than enforced after the fact.
For enterprise controllers looking to transform their financial operations, BILL provides an integrated platform that combines accounts payable automation, expense management, and spend controls. The platform helps finance teams maintain visibility and control across multiple entities while freeing up time for strategic work.
Whether you're managing 100 entities like Mark Cuban Companies, processing 15,000 bills monthly like Guardian Dentistry Partners, or scaling from hundreds to thousands of invoices like Tower 28 Beauty, the right automation can transform what's possible for your finance team.
FAQs
Here are answers to common questions enterprise controllers have about spend controls and financial automation.
What is spend culture, and why does it matter?
Spend culture refers to the shared practices, policies, and values that guide how an organization spends money. For enterprise controllers, a strong spend culture means embedding financial policies into daily operations so that spending aligns with strategic goals automatically—without creating bottlenecks or requiring constant oversight.
How does financial automation improve spend controls for finance teams?
Financial automation improves spend controls by enforcing approval workflows automatically, providing real-time visibility into spending, and creating detailed audit trails. Instead of relying on manual tracking, controllers can set up rules that route invoices and expenses to the right approvers while maintaining complete documentation.
What results can enterprise controllers expect from implementing spend controls?
Based on the case studies above, enterprise controllers typically see significant time savings (50% or more reduction in AP work), improved accuracy, better visibility into spending, and reduced security risks. Many organizations also benefit from rewards programs that turn necessary business spending into additional revenue.
How do spend controls work across multiple entities?
Modern platforms like BILL can manage multiple entities through a single interface while maintaining proper segregation. Transactions route automatically to the correct entities, approval workflows can be customized for each entity, and consolidated reporting provides visibility across the entire organization structure.
*Individual results vary. Typical annual rewards are calculated following this billing cycle.
