How to Align Spend Culture With Your Company Culture

Originally published 2019. Updated December 2025. With distributed teams and tighter budgets now the norm, these insights are even more relevant for today’s finance leaders.

In this Spend Culture podcast conversation, Jon shares practical guidance on understanding the “why” behind company spending, managing multi-location teams, and aligning spend processes with company culture.

Quick answer: What does it mean to align spend culture with company culture?

It means the way your team spends money — how they request it, approve it, justify it, and track it — actually matches the kind of company you’re trying to build.

If your culture says “move fast,” but approvals take two weeks, you’ve got a mismatch.
If your culture says “we trust people,” but spending feels like a free-for-all… same problem.

Spend culture is just company culture… showing up in your budgets.

Why do some companies have a healthy spend culture… and others don’t?

Jon Brodsky has worked across startups and global teams (including multi-location orgs operating in dozens of countries). And what stood out in this conversation is how quickly spend culture stops being about tools — and starts being about people, expectations, and trust.

This post pulls out a few of the biggest ideas from the episode, zeroing in on the parts that feel especially relevant if you’re trying to scale spending habits without turning finance into the bad guy.

Listen to the Episode Now:

1) Spend culture breaks when people don’t feel ownership

One of the first things Jon said was basically:
“You can’t fix spend culture with rules if you hired people who don’t care.”

And it makes sense.

If you hire people who genuinely believe in the mission and feel they’re building something, they tend to spend company money where it matters. Not because they’re scared of breaking a rule… but because they actually care.

But he’s also seen the opposite:

“Oh, you mean you’re going to give me $10 million, and I just get to spend it? Great.”

That’s how spend culture becomes unhealthy fast — when spending becomes detached from the business reality.

What this means for finance leaders

If you’re trying to build a healthier spend culture, the biggest lever isn’t always policy. It’s reinforcing ownership:

• “Spend like it’s your money.”
• “We’re all accountable for the runway.”
• “Ask why before you buy.”

It sounds simple, but it changes behavior.

2) Distributed teams force you to get serious about documentation

Jon talked a lot about managing teams across time zones and how decentralization changes everything.

When you’re global, and you are looking to control spend in your organization, you can’t rely on informal alignment. You have to document more. You need clear processes and shared context, because you can’t just tap someone on the shoulder.

And while that sounds painful… it’s also what keeps spend culture from turning into chaos.

He described it as a “nightmare” to manage time zones, but also a forcing function. When you document decisions tightly, people can disagree and yet still move forward.

The real problem with spend management in decentralized orgs

When it comes to spend management, it is rare that teams don’t want to align. It’s that without that structure and alignment, it tends to become “whoever shouts loudest” or “whoever’s awake.” And that’s when spending decisions begin to feel unfair, which is when culture begins to fray.

3) The way you budget shapes your spend culture (more than you think)

One thing that stood out: Jon’s team does quarterly OKRs and quarterly budget tune-ups, not a single annual budget that becomes outdated halfway through the year.

They spend about a month each quarter reviewing, aligning, and making sure everyone has time to weigh in.

That rhythm does a few things:

• Teams aren’t surprised by budget changes
• Adjustments feel normal, not disruptive
• People actually buy into the plan
• Spending decisions are easier to justify

And honestly? This is one of those insights that sounds simple yet explains why some companies feel controlled, and others feel chaotic.

How to win: Spend culture thrives when people know the plan and feel they were part of it.

4) Spend culture changes with the economy, and most teams don’t prepare for that

Jon made a point that feels especially relevant right now:

In a recession, spend culture often stops being “culture” and becomes “you can’t spend.”

That’s concerning because cost constraints can also limit growth. Companies stop experimenting. They stop investing. They clamp down too hard and dig themselves into a hole.

But on the other side—during growth and good times—teams often swing too far the other way.

Suddenly, spending becomes indulgent. Perks, tools, hiring… it adds up quickly.

The biggest takeaway: Spend culture isn’t a one-time fix. It’s something you need to prepare for in the good times and the not-so-good times.

What does a healthy spend culture look like in practice?

When spend culture is working, it shows up in day-to-day behaviors, not just policies. You can see it in how teams request purchases, how managers approve them, and how finance stays informed without constantly chasing context.

Here are the clearest signs of a healthy spend culture inside an organization:

Spending decisions are made with context, not after the fact

Employees understand that purchases should be tied to a business need, budget, or goal. Spending doesn’t happen first with documentation added later. Teams are trained to think in terms of purpose and trade-offs before money leaves the organization.

Approvals are consistent, predictable, and built into workflows

Teams know what needs approval, who approves it, and the applicable thresholds. Requests don’t rely on informal Slack messages or one-off email chains. This prevents delays while also keeping decisions auditable and repeatable.

Budget ownership is shared — not held entirely by finance

In healthy spend cultures, finance doesn’t function as the only gatekeeper. Leaders and teams understand their budgets, monitor spend throughout the month, and take responsibility for staying aligned. The result is fewer surprises and less reactive budgeting.

Documentation is normal and accessible

Spending decisions, approvals, and budget rationale are documented in a way that’s easy to reference later — especially across teams and locations. This is what makes distributed organizations scalable: people don’t need to rely on memory or informal conversations to understand what was approved and why.

Spend discipline holds up in both growth and downturn cycles

Strong spend culture doesn’t disappear during periods of uncertainty, and it doesn’t collapse during periods of abundance. Teams adapt budgets based on priorities, but they don’t swing into chaotic overspending or freeze every decision out of fear.

To go deeper on what happens when spending slips outside your workflows and how organizations regain control check out Maverick Spending Explained: Why It Persists and How Organizations Reduce Unmanaged Spend.

This interview is taken from an episode of the Spend Culture Stories podcast. Jon Brodsky, CEO of YouNow and Finder.com. Listen and Subscribe to the Podcast On Apple Podcasts