Friday 10am is peak time for employees splashing the company cash

Business owners and finance bosses may want to look away on Friday mornings, as this is the most popular time for spending on company cards.

Data from business card provider Capital on Tap shows businesses spend more money on company cards at 10am on Fridays than any other time during the working week, with users spending a massive 225% more than they usually would.

Meanwhile, 10am on Tuesdays and 11am on Mondays are also some of the costliest periods, the data shows.

The top five times of the week for spending on company credit cards

1. Friday 10am (225% of average)

2. Tuesday 10am (223%)

3. Monday 11am (214%)

4. Friday 11am (213%)

5. Wednesday 11am (208%)

Supermarkets and service stations are the most frequented locations for company credit cards, with the highest number of weekly transactions – 16.7% and 15% of all weekly purchases, respectively.

There are also more purchases made on company cards in fast food establishments – 4.9% – than for more traditional business activities such as rail travel – 2.8% – and overnight accommodation – 3.3%.

In fact, Saturday lunchtime is the most popular time for fast food spending, with KFC proving more popular with workers than Burger King and McDonald’s, at £11.67 spent per visit compared with £11.25 and £8.12, respectively.

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Out of hours spending at the pub is also a popular business expense, with end-of-week celebrations the peak time for spend in drinking establishments – 21% of this taking place between 8pm and 9pm on a Friday.

Gone are the days of the Monday morning “pick me up”, with only 19.2% of the week’s coffee purchases taking place at the beginning of the traditional working week. Instead, workers are looking for a midweek caffeine boost, with 21.4% of coffees being bought on a Wednesday.

West-midlanders are the most reliant on coffee to fuel their working week, spending £9.22 in coffee shops on an average visit, while those in Wales are least dependent on the beverage, spending just £6.56.

Coffee spend per region

1. West midlands: £9.22

2. Northern Ireland: £8.79

3. North-east: £8.79

4. Scotland: £8.70

5. Yorkshire and the Humber: £8.48

6. East: £8.41

7. North-west: £8.30

8. South-west: £7.80

9. London: £7.62

10. South-east: £7.40

11. East midlands: £7.22

12. Wales: £6.56

David Luck, CEO of Capital on Tap, said: “It is interesting to find when workers are spending most on their work credit cards and spot patterns in how businesses are evolving.

“Finding that Friday evenings are popular for pub spending and Saturdays are peak times for fast food shows that business expenditure is not as traditional as we might have thought.”