What happens to funds when an employee changes roles?
Short answer
When an employee changes roles, their spending limits, approval authority, and budget allocations typically need to be updated to match their new responsibilities. Outstanding expenses should be reconciled and properly coded to the correct cost center before making any role or department changes to ensure proper visibility and approval routing.
On Ramp, admins can update card limits, approval workflows, and department assignments directly in the platform when an employee's role changes, ensuring spending controls stay aligned with their new position.
What may need to be updated
When an employee transitions to a new role, several financial controls and allocations require attention:
- Spending limits: Card limits may need to increase or decrease based on the new role's requirements
- Approval authority: Managers gaining or losing direct reports need updated approval permissions
- Department or cost center: Future expenses should code to the new department's budget
- Merchant restrictions: Access to specific vendor categories may change based on role responsibilities
- Outstanding expenses: Pending transactions and reimbursements from the previous role must be reconciled
Note that past transactions remain tied to the original role and department, previously spent funds are not reallocated, and historical approvals and coding stay the same.
How this works on Ramp
Admins manually update role-related settings in Ramp:
- Update the employee’s department and manager
- Adjust card or fund limits
- Modify approval permissions if needed
All changes apply immediately and affect only future transactions.