Setting Up Payment Approvals

Payment approvals let a client company decide, invoice by invoice, whether a supplier invoice may be paid. This article is for the person who runs the process: the finance admin at the client, or the accountant admin who sets it up for them.

Switching it on

Open the client workspace, go to Settings, then Approval rules (the page itself is titled Approvals), and switch on Payment approvals (the text beside the switch then reads On). Only people holding "Manage approvals" see this page.

The switch is the second block on that page. The first is Checkpoints, which is a different subject: filing and bookkeeping approval, covered in Filing and Bookkeeping Approval.

Set up the rules and the approvers first, and switch approvals on last. The rules, the descriptions and the fallback can all be edited while approvals are off, and switching on starts admitting every unpaid supplier invoice within minutes, oldest due date first.

What starts an approval? A supplier invoice enters the flow as soon as it is booked: the extraction and the AI categorisation have finished, it is an expense, it is open or partially paid, and it is not a duplicate or rejected. An invoice without line items enters 15 minutes after it arrived. Where a checkpoint gates payment, the invoice also needs that approval first: with Filing before payment on, a filing decision; with Bookkeeping before payment on, a bookkeeping one. Invoices that existed before the checkpoint's start date are exempt, and switching a checkpoint on never pulls an invoice back out of the payment queue. The system checks once a minute, so a new invoice usually reaches its approver within a minute or two, and approvers see their queue under Approvals in the sidebar. Invoices that were already paid are left alone.

Switching it off stops new invoices from entering and pauses the invoices already waiting: nobody can approve, decline or assign them until it is on again, the queue says Payment approvals are not switched on yet, and no approval emails are sent. Decisions already made stay on the invoices.

The defaults: approvals off, Everything needs approval unless a rule says otherwise on, no fallback approver, a queue window of 14 days, bulk approval on, unassigned invoices visible to every approver, and invoices flagged "needs review" held.

Who does what

Three permissions make up payment approvals:

• Approve invoices for payment: sees the queue and can approve or decline. It does not need "View invoices and bank transactions": an approver without that permission simply sees only the invoices routed to them, and their own uploads. "Manage approvals" and "Export payment file" do need it, and the role editor keeps them switched off until it is on.
• Manage approvals: sees the whole flow on the Overview, assigns invoices, reopens decisions, confirms supplier bank accounts and edits the rules and the policy.
• Export payment file: downloads the payment file for approved invoices and invoices that need no approval. See Paying approved invoices.

By default the accountant admin and the finance lead hold all three, and the Finance admin system role holds "Manage approvals" and "Export payment file" without deciding invoices for payment (it does hold "Approve filing"). For anyone else, create a role under Settings, Team management, Roles (this needs "Manage members and roles"), for example "Approver only" holding just the first one, and assign it. See Roles and Permissions.

The settings page

Settings reads in the order the flow runs: switch it on, say who may approve, say what goes to whom, then say what their queue looks like.

Payment approvals is the switch above. Approvers lists everyone who holds "Approve invoices for payment", with a description of what each of them decides. Each approver takes one line: the name with the email address under it, the first line of the description and Edit. Someone with "Manage approvals" clicks Edit to write the description (up to 600 characters, saved when you leave the field). When nobody holds the permission, an amber warning says so.

Routing holds the rules, and directly beneath them, When no rule matches:

• Everything needs approval unless a rule says otherwise: the safe default. An invoice then skips approval only when a rule you wrote says so, or when the last 3 decisions for that partner were "no approval needed". Switched off, every invoice that no rule and no earlier decision places needs no approval, and neither the fallback nor the AI is asked.
• Fallback approver: the person who receives every invoice that no rule and no earlier decision places, as long as that person can still approve. Without one, the AI tries first, and anything it cannot place waits in Needs you on the Overview for you to assign.

The approver's queue describes what an approver sees:

• Queue window: a whole number of days from 1 to 365, 14 by default. The basis is the invoice due date: approvers see invoices due within this many days, later ones wait until they come closer. An invoice with no due date always appears. Leave it empty to show every open invoice. The window applies to the approver's own list, the unassigned list, the sidebar count and the morning email; All awaiting ignores it.
• Bulk approval: whether approvers may approve several invoices with one confirmation. Declining is always one at a time.
• Unassigned invoices are visible to every approver: when off, only people with "Manage approvals" see and decide unrouted invoices; they appear in no list for anyone else.
• Invoices flagged "needs review" by extraction: Hold until reviewed (the default: held invoices cannot be approved until the accountant checks the extraction), or Show with a warning.

With filing approval switched on, the needs review row stays, and it applies only to invoices that are not waiting for filing. An invoice waiting for filing shows Waiting for filing instead of being held, because filing checks the same thing and the invoice cannot be approved for payment before filing anyway. Every other flagged invoice is still held by this setting: one created before the filing start date, or any invoice when Filing before payment is off.

Rules

1. The drag handle: rules are checked from the top, and the first match wins.
2. A rule, written as a sentence. Click it to edit it.
3. A rule whose outcome is that no approval is needed.
4. When no rule matches: the policy and the fallback approver.
5. Apply rules to waiting invoices.

Rules are sentences, checked in order. The first rule that matches an invoice wins. Add rule opens the rule editor.

A rule matches on any combination of Partner, Category, Company and an amount band (Amount from, Amount up to) in the workspace's base currency, gross. Amount from includes the limit, Amount up to does not, and an invoice without a base-currency amount never matches a rule with an amount band. The Outcome either sends the invoice to an Approver or says no approval is needed. A rule can be switched off with Active; inactive rules are shown dimmed and skipped. The list shows each rule as a sentence, for example:

• An invoice from Reamwell Office Supplies Ltd. goes to Anna Berg
• Any invoice in Subcontracted work above HUF 500,000.00 goes to David Hart
• Any invoice under HUF 20,000.00 needs no approval

To reorder a rule, drag it by the handle on its left, or focus the handle, press Space to lift it, move it with the arrow keys and press Space again to drop it. Click a rule to edit it; Delete is inside the editor and asks for confirmation.

If a rule's approver can no longer approve, the rule shows This approver can no longer approve. The rule is skipped. An invoice that reaches that rule stops there and waits unrouted with the reason "The rule's approver cannot approve", so a rule never leaves an invoice with someone who cannot act. Fix the rule or the permission; the invoice is routed again within a minute.

When no rule matches, routing does not stop. The router first follows your earlier decisions for the partner, then hands the invoice to the fallback approver if you set one, and only as a last step asks the AI to propose an approver from your descriptions. A rule always outranks all three, and the AI can pick a person but never waive approval.

Applying rules to invoices already waiting

Invoices waiting unrouted are routed again automatically within a minute when you add or change a rule. Invoices already assigned to an approver stay where they are. To make a new or changed rule reach those too, click Apply rules to waiting invoices under the rules. The system re-runs the rules and your earlier decisions (not the AI) over every invoice still waiting and tells you how many it rerouted, how many no longer need approval, and how many stayed unchanged. Invoices someone assigned by hand, or handed back with "Not mine", are not touched. The button works only while approvals are switched on.

What the router learns

Decisions on invoices from a verified partner teach the router. When you assign an invoice to someone by hand, when an approver approves it, or when you mark it as not needing approval, the router remembers the partner and the outcome. Once the last 3 decisions for a partner agree, the next invoice from that partner follows them without a rule, as long as that approver can still approve: the approver sees "Learned: the last 3 invoices from Quillmoor Software Ltd. went to you". A "Not mine" click forgets that invoice. Declines teach nothing, because a decline is about the invoice, not about who should decide.

Proposed rules

When the last 3 decisions for a partner agree, the Overview also proposes a rule in Needs you, in two lines: "Invoices from Quillmoor Software Ltd. go to Anna Berg" and "Proposed rule. 3 of 3 past decisions agree". The proposal is counted from your decisions; no AI is involved. Accept adds it as the last rule, so rules you wrote by hand keep precedence. Dismiss removes it for good: the same partner, outcome and approver are not proposed again. Only a person turns a proposal into a rule.

Approver descriptions

Under Approvers, write one or two sentences per person about what they decide: "CEO, signs subcontractors and anything above 500 000 Ft". These descriptions are sent to the AI word for word when nothing else placed the invoice: no rule matched, no earlier decision applied, no fallback approver is set, and Everything needs approval unless a rule says otherwise is on. Invoices handed back with "Not mine", and invoices stopped at a rule whose approver cannot approve, are not sent to the AI.

The AI picks the person whose description covers the invoice, or nobody when no description fits. It acts only when it is at least 70% sure; otherwise the invoice waits in Needs you on the Overview with a note like "AI 0.58, below the threshold". The AI gets one attempt per invoice; adding, editing or clearing a description makes it look again at everything still unrouted. Describe what the person decides, not instructions. The AI runs only when at least one approver has a description, and never for a company where approvals are switched off.

The Overview

The Overview page is for whoever manages approvals: its link sits at the top right of Approvals, and only someone with the right to manage approvals sees it. Approvers land on their own desk instead. Its header has a Routing rules button, which opens the settings page, and, for anyone holding "Export payment file", a Payment file button.

A table at the top shows each step on one line: Filing, Bookkeeping and Payment, with how many invoices are in the queue and two counts of what needs attention: blocked and sent back for a checkpoint, unassigned and declined for Payment. A checkpoint row appears only when that checkpoint is switched on and you hold its own permission, so a manager who does not decide filing or bookkeeping themselves sees the Payment row alone. Under it, the page answers two questions, in that order.

Needs you is one list of everything waiting on you: invoices no rule placed, invoices an approver declined, and proposed rules. Overdue first, each with an amber edge, and each with its own buttons: Assign an approver, Reopen a declined invoice, Mark not required, or accept a proposed rule. When there are more than 10 rows, Show all opens the rest and Open the unassigned list opens the full list of unassigned invoices.

In flight is not your work, it is the answer to "is anything stuck": one row per approver with how many invoices are waiting, how many are overdue, and how long the oldest has been with them. A click on a name opens the list of everything awaiting approval, where you can reassign an invoice. Underneath, approved and unpaid, with the total per currency and, for someone who may export payment files, a link to them.

Above both, two figures: the money in the flow, and the median time to a decision over the last 30 days. At the very foot of the page, under In flight, a line says how many invoices are held because the extraction flagged them "needs review".

What the accountant sees

Every invoice shows its approval state: a pill in the invoice list for awaiting, approved and declined invoices, a filter value, a "Payment approval" card on the invoice, and each decision on the invoice's history. Approval never blocks exporting or closing a month. It is a cash decision by the client, not a bookkeeping check.

If an accountant rejects an invoice, any approval is cancelled and the invoice shows "Rejected by the accountant"; if the rejection is undone, the invoice is routed afresh. If the gross amount, the currency or the supplier of an approved invoice changes, the approval is reset and the invoice goes back to its approver.

Emails

Approvers receive three approval emails, each with its own switch on their Notifications page under Approvals: New items to approve, one email when a wave of new items ends (the queue has been quiet for 5 minutes, or the oldest unsent item has waited 30 minutes), covering payment invoices assigned to them and filing or bookkeeping items in a queue they hold the key for; a Daily digest on working days at a time they choose (08:00 Budapest time by default), one email across all their companies, with nothing sent when nothing is waiting; and a Due-soon reminder on working days at a time they choose (14:00 by default) for payment invoices due within 2 days. A declined notice with the approver's note goes at once to everyone holding "Manage approvals" except the person who declined. Working days are Monday to Friday, Budapest time. The Monday summary to the accountants gains a line per company with approvals on: waiting, overdue, declined, approved and unpaid. Nothing is sent for a company where approvals are switched off. What each email contains and how to change the times: Approving invoices for payment.