Accounts Payable | Bill Approval Workflows
Approvals route themselves. The CFO doesn't approve a coffee bill at 11 PM.
Rules by amount, cost-centre, GL, vendor, project or entity. Slack, email and mobile approvals. Out-of-office auto-escalation. Mobile approval. Full audit trail with reason capture and SLA tracking.
What the system does
Capability, input, output.
| Capability | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Rules engine | Amount + cost-centre + GL + vendor + project + entity | Approver chain per bill |
| Channel routing | Approver preference per role | Slack, email or mobile delivery |
| OOO auto-escalation | Approver leave calendar + escalation rule | Auto-route to delegate after the window |
| Bulk approval | Filtered bill set + approver action | Batch approve/reject with comment |
| Mobile approval | Push notification on iOS / Android | One-tap approve, swipe to comment |
| SLA tracking | Approval-stage timestamps | Aging dashboard + breach alerts |
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Rules engine
- Input
- Amount + cost-centre + GL + vendor + project + entity
- Output
- Approver chain per bill
-
Channel routing
- Input
- Approver preference per role
- Output
- Slack, email or mobile delivery
-
OOO auto-escalation
- Input
- Approver leave calendar + escalation rule
- Output
- Auto-route to delegate after the window
-
Bulk approval
- Input
- Filtered bill set + approver action
- Output
- Batch approve/reject with comment
-
Mobile approval
- Input
- Push notification on iOS / Android
- Output
- One-tap approve, swipe to comment
-
SLA tracking
- Input
- Approval-stage timestamps
- Output
- Aging dashboard + breach alerts
Compliance + integrations
An approval trail your auditor can read like a transcript.
Every approval, rejection, comment and override is captured with the approver, timestamp and reason. The chain matches the matrix you signed off on. Auditors get read-only access to the workflow log without provisioning a regular user account.
Regulations we work within
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Internal controls
Segregation of duties enforced at the approver chain rather than asserted in a policy document.
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Audit trail
Append-only record across the approval workflow, including every delegation and escalation.
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SOX 404 (for listed groups)
Where a parent is SOX-scoped, the same chain evidences the control at the subsidiary.
Connects to
- Slack Approve from a DM
- Microsoft Teams Approve from a card
- Email Approve from any inbox
Bill Approval Workflows FAQ
What buyers ask.
Our approval matrix is complex. Can it really be configured here?
Yes. Multi-tier matrices with conditional logic (e.g., "L1 + L2 if amount is over a set threshold AND cost-centre = R&D") are supported. Most teams move from spreadsheet-based approval grids and find the rules engine handles every case the grid did, including the exceptions written in the margins.
What happens if the approver doesn't act?
Each rule has an SLA and an escalation policy. If the approver doesn’t act within the SLA, the bill auto-escalates to the configured delegate or to the next tier up. Aging is visible on the AP dashboard, and the CFO can see breaches at a glance.
Can we approve from Slack?
Yes. Approvals can fire to Slack DMs as actionable cards. The approver clicks Approve or Reject without leaving Slack. Identity is verified via Slack workspace SSO. Same for Microsoft Teams.
Is the approval trail auditor-accessible?
Yes. The accountant and statutory auditor reviewer roles get read-only access to the approval workflow per period, with the chain, comments and timing. Audit packs export hash-verified.
Wire up your approval matrix in an hour.
Bring last week’s approval logs. We map them to a rules engine in front of you. The first bill routes itself the same day.