CASE STUDY
From 30 hours to minutes: giving Jimmy’s Iced Coffee their time back
By ditching manual spreadsheet work and clunky approval processes—and replacing them with Capture Expense and Pliant credit cards.
From 30 hours to minutes
speeding up the expense management admin every month
Improved VAT reclaim
thanks to splitting receipts and applying custom VAT rates.
Transforming expenses for busy event teams with Capture Expense & Pliant
Jimmy’s Iced Coffee is one of the UK’s most recognisable Iced Coffee brands—and with a busy events team always on the move and spending happening across multiple departments, their finance function was dealing with way too much expense admin.
Clocking up to 30 hours a month just on approvals, spreadsheet fixes, and receipt chasing, they made the switch to Capture Expense with Pliant credit cards and got the process down to minutes—giving them the headspace to focus on the work that actually matters.
“Before using Capture Expense and Pliant, expenses took up a good half of my job—approving everything line by line, manipulating spreadsheets, chasing receipts. Now I’m spending maybe 20 minutes every couple of days on approvals, and reconciliation takes minutes rather than a full day. I’ve got the freedom to actually focus on other things, and that time adds up to real value elsewhere in the business.”
– Imogen Swart, Finance & Operations Administrator, Jimmy’s Iced Coffee
The challenge
- Approvals, one painful transaction at a time: Every expense had to be opened individually—no bulk actions, no quick skim—and with no delegated approval flows, it all sat with finance.
- VAT being missed on mixed receipts: With no way to split a receipt or enter a custom VAT amount, transactions that combined VATable and non-VATable items (petrol and a snack, for example) had to be coded as one or the other—so VAT was being lost.
- No spend visibility for the events team: With 10–15 people regularly out in the field, the team were sharing a manager’s card with no way to view their spending independently.
The solution
- Cards and expenses managed in one place: Business expense cards are issued through the platform, so every transaction made on a card is automatically tracked in Capture—no manual importing, no disconnected systems, and no chasing people to log what they’ve spent.
- Instant spend answers with Finance Copilot: Capture’s built-in AI assistant means that when a manager asks how much their team has spent this week, Imogen gets the answer in seconds—no exports, no filtering, no reformatting.
- Receipts submitted via WhatsApp: A photo, a message, and it’s automatically matched to the right transaction—no logging in, no extra steps.
- Full visibility across every department: Imogen set up manager-level access for senior staff and the events team, so everyone can see what’s being spent in their area in real time—with approval thresholds set so anything over £500–600 gets flagged automatically.
The benefits
- Receipt chasing in two clicks: Because Pliant credit cards and Capture Expense work together, every transaction is automatically tracked the moment it’s made—there’s no gap between money being spent and it appearing in the system.
- Better VAT reclaim: Splitting receipts and entering custom VAT amounts means Jimmy’s are now reclaiming VAT they were previously missing entirely.
- Spend visibility that’s actually useful: Managers can see what their teams are spending in real time, and quick spend questions get answered instantly via Finance Copilot—no export needed.
- A clean audit trail: Every transaction has a full timestamp and approval chain, so anything that needs checking is easy to trace.
The results
Expense admin time cut dramatically
Imogen was spending up to 30 hours every month on expense admin. Now it’s around 20 minutes every couple of days for approvals, and a matter of minutes for reconciliation.
VAT reclaim improved
By being able to split receipts and enter custom VAT amounts, Jimmy’s are now reclaiming VAT on transactions that were previously coded at 0%—money that was simply being missed before.
Happier team, start to finish
From the events team submitting via WhatsApp in seconds, to managers having real-time visibility of their team’s spend, the whole process is faster and less frustrating for everyone involved.
“I use the Ask James feature all the time—it’s become one of my favourite parts of the platform. Before, if someone asked me how much their team had spent that week, it was a massive export, filtering, highlighting, reformatting, and then sending it over. Now I just ask James and I’ve got a clear, accurate answer in seconds. It sounds like a small thing but it saves me a surprising amount of time.”
– Imogen Swart, Finance & Operations Administrator, Jimmy’s Iced Coffee
Find out more about Capture Expense
We’re so much more than just an app to track your business expenses. From saving days reconciling your credit cards to getting customised insights in an instant with your finance copilot, here’s everything you need to know about Capture Expense.