In discussions about B2B payments, one argument comes up again and again: “accepting card payments is expensive.”

That statement is not wrong — but it is incomplete.

In this article, we take a deliberately realistic approach. Rather than debating theory, we anchor the analysis in observed U.S. payment behavior and practical capital costs, and then progressively expand the framework to reflect how finance actually works in the real world.

The term “expense” means very different things depending on who you ask. For most, it’s a simple outflow of cash: money paid to a supplier for goods or services. But in finance, every expense carries deeper meaning. It shapes how a company operates, how its performance is measured, and ultimately how it’s valued.

Billable expenses are not true company expenses. They represent pass-through charges, i.e. costs incurred on behalf of clients. Therefore, accounting practices must correctly reflect their nature to avoid overstating or understating operational results and taxable profits.

Every company knows or should know its Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): the total investment in sales and marketing required to win a customer. But very few know what we at BlueBean call the Cost of Expense Acquisition (CEA): the total cost of the resources required to make a purchase.