Bank Account Approvals (Beta)

Overview

Bank Account Approvals introduce a secure, auditable process for reviewing changes to contact bank account details. When bank account information is added or modified, the change can be approved by an authorized person before it becomes an active bank account in the system.

Bank Account Approvals can apply to all contact bank accounts added or edited through the Bank Accounts tab or contact creation screens.

Key benefits

• Reduce financial fraud risk - Changes to critical financial information now require review and approval
• Ensure data accuracy - Reduces the chances of input errors and mis-placed payments
• Boost compliance and trust - Full audit trail of who changed what and who approved it

NOTE: This feature is only available for Pro and Enterprise customers. To find out more about Approvals you can contact your Account Manager or leave a contact request here.

Understanding Bank Account Approvals

What requires approval?

When Bank Account Approval Workflows are enabled, the following changes require approval:

• Bank Account Name - Changing the name of a bank account
• Bank Account Number - Modifying the account number
• New Contacts and existing contacts - when a new contact with a bank account is saved, the bank account will be set as 'Awaiting approval'
  • This is a separate workflow from Contact Approvals
  • The bank account cannot be used for payments until it's approved

What changes do not trigger a bank account approval?

• Particulars, Code, Reference fields - These are contact-level payment fields (not bank account fields), so changes take effect immediately
• Default account setting - Changing which bank account is set as the default account

What happens when you make a change?

1. A replacement bank account is created - a new version of the bank account is created with your changes
2. The original account remains active - Until approval, the original bank account continues to be used
3. Status changes to "Awaiting Approval" - The replacement account shows as pending approval
4. A workflow is triggered - The system automatically starts an approval workflow based on your organization's workflow configuration

Making changes to bank accounts

Step 1: Navigate to Bank Accounts

1. Go to the Contact you want to modify
2. Navigate to the Bank Accounts page
3. Find the bank account you want to update

Step 2: Edit the Bank Account

• Click the menu icon (three dots) next to the bank account
• Select Edit from the dropdown menu
• Make your changes to:
  • Bank Account Name
  • Bank Account Number
• Click Save

Viewing Pending changes

When a bank account has pending changes, you'll see:

1. 'Pending' badge - A yellow/orange badge with a clock icon next to the account name
2. Expandable row - An icon to expand the row to see details
3. Status indicator - The pending change shows as 'Awaiting Approval'

Expand to View Details

1. Click the expand arrow icon next to the bank account with pending changes
2. The row expands to show:
   • The pending account details
   • Modified data - highlighted yellow
   • Approval workflow link - If you have permission, a link to view/approve the change

Permissions

The "Can approve bank accounts" permission

Users with the "Can approve bank accounts" permission can approve bank account changes on behalf of the nominated approver within the workflow. However, they can also approve bank accounts directly from the Bank Accounts tab, regardless of whether a workflow exists.

Important: If a user has the 'Can approve bank accounts' permission, they can approve any bank account change, including those queued in "Awaiting Approval", bypassing your defined approval process.

Preventing workflow bypass

To ensure bank accounts can only be approved through your workflow:

1. Go to Settings > Maintain User Roles
2. Select the relevant role
3. Under the Contacts permission category, deselect "Can approve bank accounts"
4. Save your changes

When this permission is removed, the user will see a "Submit for approval" button instead of an "Approve" button when adding or amending bank account information.

NOTE: Users without 'Can approve bank accounts' can still approve bank accounts if they're assigned as approvers in a workflow step. Removing the permission only prevents direct approval outside the workflow.

Administrator capabilities

Users with Administrator privileges can approve any bank account change at any point in the workflow, regardless of:

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

The Approvals hub

The Approvals Hub is a centralised area for Approvers to access and review requests assigned to them. To access the approvals hub navigate to Approvals from the toggle menu at the top right of the screen. 

Status overview

Selecting the Bank account approvals area will display a table with a list of bank accounts awaiting approval. Tab through different views to filter historical bank account approval requests.

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

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

• Filter by Approver
• Filter by Company
• Search by Contact correspondence name or bank account name

Reviewing approval requests

This section is for people designated in the approval workflow as an approver.

Email notifications

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

Managing notification volume:

If you receive multiple approval requests a day, you can 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.

Reviewing a bank account approval request

When reviewing a bank account you'll see:

Contact information:

• Bank Account name with approval status badge ('Awaiting approval')
• The correspondence name for the Contact and the contact approval status (e.g. 'Approved', 'Awaiting approval')
• Contact category (e.g., "Owner", "Supplier")
• Current approver(s) name

Bank account details:

• Bank account name and 'Default' account indicator (for Owner contacts only)
• Account Number
• Payment details: Particulars, Code, Reference

And if its an existing bank account change:

• Current bank account name and number
• Updated account name and number

Note the highlighted fields which have been changed

Approval history:

• Audit trail of approval actions
• Who approved or rejected at each step
• Comments from approvers
• Timestamps of all actions

Approving or rejecting a bank account

To Approve:

1. Review the bank account details
   • Click the link to navigate to the account information on the contact directly for more information 
2. Click 'Approve'
3. Optionally add a comment for the audit trail before confirming the approval

What happens to an Approved change?

To Reject:

1. Review the bank account 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

What happens to a Rejected change?

Connected Accounting customers: When a bank account is in 'Awaiting Approval' status, updates will NOT sync to your external accounting system (e.g. Xero) until the change has been approved. This prevents payments from being made to unverified bank accounts. Once approved, the bank account details will sync on the next scheduled sync.

Monitoring and Auditing

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

• Who approved or rejected the change
• Timestamp of each action
• Comments left by approvers
• When the bank account 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.

Trust Accounting customers and disbursement of funds

Building your bank account approval 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., "Bank Account Approvals - Company ABC")
3. Optionally add details in the description field to document the workflow's purpose
4. From the Approval type dropdown, select Bank Account 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., "Finance Team Review" or "Owner Account Verification").

Conditions

Define the rules that trigger this approval step. Available condition fields:

• Contact Tags
• Contact Category

Note: Multiple conditions in a single step uses "AND" logic (all must be true) to trigger the approval step.

Approval

Select who can approve the bank account change for this step:

• User: Select a specific person as an approver. Note: Only users with permissions for all companies in the workflow will appear in the approver list.
• Team: Select a team group. All users in this team will receive an email to check and approve the bank account

Escalation

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

Reminders

Set time limits (in hours) for sending reminders:

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

Example Timeline (setting a 24-hour reminder):

• At 0 hours: Approval email sent to designated approvers
• At 24 hours: Reminder sent to approvers if approval step incomplete
• At 48 hours: Approval escalated to escalation approvers (the escalation time is doubled 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. A bank account matching multiple step conditions will pass through each step in order.

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 bank account matching your criteria will automatically enter the workflow and progress through each step based on your defined rules.

Best Practices

Establish clear conditions

Define approval conditions that align with your organization's financial controls and risk tolerance. Common patterns:

• All bank account changes require approval
• Owner contact bank accounts require additional senior approval
• Supplier bank accounts require finance team approval

Remove bypass permissions

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

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
• The impact of bank account changes on payments and accounting sync

Administrator oversight

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

Related articles:

• Getting started with Approval Workflows
• Invoice Approval Workflows
• Work Order Approvals
• Contact Approvals