Card payments are often seen as expensive in B2B, but that view is incomplete. This article examines the real-world economics of payments, capital costs, and finance operations.

The term “expense” means more than an outflow of cash. In finance, expenses shape operations, performance measurement, and ultimately company valuation.

Billable expenses are pass-through costs incurred on behalf of clients and must be accounted for properly to avoid distorting profits and taxable income.

Every company tracks Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), but few measure what BlueBean calls the Cost of Expense Acquisition (CEA): the total cost of making a purchase.