Invoice Approvals

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Overview

Invoice approval workflows automate the review and approval of expense invoices by routing them to designated approvers based on rules you define. Workflows help ensure compliance, prevent unauthorized spending, and create audit trails for financial controls.

Important: Invoice approval workflows apply only to expense invoices. Income invoices and rent invoices are not included in the approval workflow system.

How Workflows Work

The Approval Trigger

When an expense invoice is submitted for approval, the system evaluates it against all published workflows assigned to that invoice's company. If the invoice matches a workflow's conditions, it enters that workflow and progresses through each step sequentially.

Sequential Step Processing

Workflows can contain multiple steps. If an invoice matches the conditions of multiple steps, it will pass through each step in order.

Example:

• Step 1: Invoice Total > $1 → Person One approves
• Step 2: Invoice Total > $5,000 → Person Two approves

A $6,000 invoice triggers both conditions, so it requires approval from Person One first, then Person Two.

Invoices Below Workflow Thresholds

If an expense invoice doesn't match any workflow conditions (e.g. a $200 invoice when your lowest threshold is $500), it will enter the workflow and check approval conditions. If there are none met it will approve automatically.

Recommended Approach: If you want all expense invoices to flow through workflows, create rules starting at $1. For example:

• Step 1: $1 - $4,999 → Property Manager
• Step 2: $5,000+ → Senior Manager

This ensures no invoice bypasses your approval process.

Understanding Permissions and Bypass Scenarios

The "Can Approve Invoices" Permission

Users with the "Can approve invoices" permission can approve the step in the invoice approval workflow on behalf of the nominated approver. But they can also approve expense invoices directly from the Income & Expenses screen, regardless of whether a workflow exists.  This creates a bypass route around your defined approval process.

Important: If a user has this permission, they can approve any invoice - including those queued in "Awaiting Approval" - by approving in the Approvals screen or going to Income & Expenses and clicking "Approve."

Preventing Workflow Bypass

To ensure invoices can only be approved through your workflow:

1. Go to Settings > Maintain User Roles
2. Select the relevant role
3. Under Income and Expense Permissions, deselect "Can approve invoices"
4. Save your changes

When this permission is removed, the user will see a "Submit for approval" or "Save & submit for approval" button instead of an "Approve" button throughout the system.

Important: Users without "Can approve invoices" can still approve invoices if they're assigned as approvers in a workflow step. Removing the permission doesn't prevent workflow participation - it only prevents direct approval outside the workflow.

Administrator Capabilities

Users with Administrator privileges can approve any expense invoice at any point in the workflow, regardless of:

• Whether they're assigned as an approver in that step
• The workflow conditions
• Their property assignments

When to Use: Administrator override is designed for emergency situations, workflow failures, or resolving stuck approvals. For routine operations, administrators should be explicitly assigned in workflow steps to maintain audit trail clarity.

Planning Your Workflow

Before building your workflow, consider these strategic design questions:

Approval Thresholds

Define financial break points where approval authority changes. Common patterns:

• Low value ($1 - $4,999): Property Manager
• Medium value ($5,000 - $24,999): Senior Manager
• High value ($25,000+): Executive approval

Tip: Setting clear thresholds reduces bottlenecks and ensures appropriate oversight at each spending level.

Property-Based Routing

Workflows support conditions beyond invoice amount. You can route approvals based on:

Property fields:

• Property tags
• Property type
• Usage type

Tenancy fields:

• Tenancy tags
• Tenancy types
• Tenancy industry

Approver Assignment Types

When assigning approvers to workflow steps, you can select:

• User: A specific individual (e.g., "Jane Smith")
• Team: A group of users (e.g., "Finance Team")
• Role: Users with either a Property Manager or Facilities Manager designation. 
  • The Property Manager or Facilities Manager targets users who are assigned as property or facilities managers to the specific property the invoice is related to. Only those users assigned to the invoice's property will receive the approval request.

Building Your Workflow

Navigate to Approval Settings

1. Select Settings from the menu
2. Click Approval Workflows under the Automation section

Create a New Workflow

1. On the Workflows page, click Create a new Workflow
2. Enter a descriptive name for the workflow (e.g. "Approvals for Company A above $250")
3. Optionally add details in the description field to document the workflow's purpose
4. From the Approval type dropdown, select Invoice Approval
5. Assign to companies: Use the dropdown to select one or more companies. Use the "X" button to remove selections
6. Click Create and save

You can now start adding workflow steps.

Create a Workflow Step

Each workflow step defines conditions that trigger approval requirements and designates who must approve.

Step Name (Optional)

Provide a descriptive name for the step (e.g., "Property Manager - Low Value" or "Executive - High Risk").

Conditions

Define the rules that trigger this approval step. You can add multiple conditions.

Available condition fields:

• Invoice total (most common scenario)
• Property fields (Property tags, Usage type, Usage type)
• Tenancy fields (Tenancy tags, Tenancy type, Tenancy industry))

Note that multiple conditions in a single step use "AND" logic (all must be true) to trigger the approval step.

Approval

Select who can approve the invoice for this step:

• User: Select a specific person as an approver. 
  • Remember: Only users with permissions for all companies in the workflow will appear in the approver list. If an expected user does not appear in this list its most likely because they do not have permission for one or more of the companies the workflow will apply to.
• Team: Select a team group. All users in this team will receive an email to check and approve the invoice
• Role: Select a Property manager or Facility manager. This will send the approval to the person assigned as the property or facilities manager for that property

Escalation

Designate a backup approver if the primary approver hasn't acted within the reminder timeframe. Escalation can be set to user, team, or role level.

Reminders

Set time limits (in hours) for sending reminders:

• Minimum: 1 hour
• Maximum: 167 hours (7 days)

Example Timeline (24-hour reminder):

• 0 hours: Approval email sent to designated approvers
• 24 hours: Reminder sent to approvers if step incomplete
• 48 hours: Approval escalated to escalation approvers (the time doubles from the reminder hours set)

Once configured, click Save.

Add Additional Steps

To add more steps to your workflow, click Add a step and configure the new step using the process above.

Remember: Steps execute sequentially. An invoice matching multiple step conditions will pass through each step in order.

Example:

Invoices up to $1000 must be approved by the Property Manager. Invoices above this cost must be sent the Finance Manager for additional approval

Save and Publish

1. Change the workflow status from Draft to Published
2. Click Save Workflow at the top of the screen

Once published, any expense invoice matching your criteria will automatically enter the workflow and progress through each step based on your defined rules.

The Approvals Hub

This is where approvers review invoices awaiting approval to approve or reject.

Accessing the Hub

Navigate to Approvals from the toggle menu. This provides a centralized view of all approval activity across your companies.

Status Overview

The hub displays approval status for all items:

• Awaiting Approval: Pending action from assigned approvers
• Rejected: Declined by an approver
• Completed: Successfully approved through all steps
• Failed: Error in workflow processing

Filtering and Search

Use the search bar or apply filters to find specific approvals:

• Filter by Approver
• Filter by Company
• Filter by Property or Property Group
• Search by invoice number or supplier

Bulk Approval

To approve multiple invoices simultaneously:

1. Select the invoices you wish to approve (use checkboxes)
2. Click the bulk actions button
3. Choose Approve

Use Case: Bulk approval is particularly effective for processing high volumes of low-value invoices that have entered workflow but require minimal individual scrutiny.

Managing Approval Requests

Approving an Invoice

When reviewing an expense invoice for approval, you'll see:

• Invoice details (company, invoice reference, property name, issue and due date, supplier/creditor name, line item details, amount, supplier, account information)
• Current approver assignment
• Comments and history from previous steps

To approve:

1. Review the invoice details
2. Click Approve
3. Optionally add a comment for the audit trail

Rejecting an Invoice

To reject an invoice:

1. Review the invoice details
2. Click Reject
3. Send back to the person who can address the issue
4. Add a comment explaining the rejection reason (required for audit purposes)
5. Click Send rejection

Rejected invoices exit the workflow and return to the invoice creator for correction.

Email Notifications

You'll receive an email notification for each approval request assigned to you.

Managing Notification Volume:

If you receive multiple approval requests daily, adjust your notification settings:

1. Go to Personal Profile Settings
2. Update Notification Preferences
3. Enable Daily To-Do List Digest to receive a single daily summary instead of individual emails

This consolidates approval requests into one organized email per day.

Monitoring and Auditing

Comments and History

Every approval action is logged in the Comments and History section of the invoice, including:

• Who approved or rejected the invoice
• Timestamp of each action
• Comments left by approvers
• When the invoice entered the workflow
• Number of approval rounds completed
• Which workflow step triggered at each stage

This creates a complete audit trail for compliance and financial reporting.

Best Practices

Establish Clear Thresholds

Define approval break points that align with your organization's financial controls and risk tolerance. Avoid creating too many steps that slow down routine approvals.

Remove Bypass Permissions

For workflow-only approval processes, remove "Can approve invoices" from user roles that should only approve via workflow. This ensures compliance and maintains audit integrity.

Property-Based Routing Strategically

Leverage property tags, types, and usage classifications to create intelligent routing that matches your operational structure (e.g. commercial vs residential, high-risk vs standard properties).

Plan for Coverage

When assigning approvers, consider:

• Holiday and leave coverage (use teams instead of individuals)
• Time zone distribution for global operations
• Escalation paths for urgent approvals

Volume Management Strategy

If you process high volumes of low-value invoices, consider:

• Creating workflow rules above a meaningful threshold for your business, e.g. invoices above $100 to reduce admin costs of trivial invoice fees under $100
• Reserve workflows for properties and costs requiring more careful oversight

Train Your Team

Ensure all participants understand:

• Their role in the workflow
• How to approve/reject effectively
• The importance of adding comments for audit purposes
• How to use bulk approval for efficiency

Regular Workflow Reviews

Schedule quarterly reviews to:

• Verify thresholds still align with business needs
• Update approver assignments as team structures change
• Remove or consolidate underutilized workflow steps
• Ensure compliance with evolving regulatory requirements

Administrator Oversight

Reserve administrator override capabilities for genuine exceptions. Routine use of administrator approval bypasses the audit trail benefits of structured workflows.