How to set up a bill approval policy for a small team

Short answer

1. Name who can approve.
2. Set two or three dollar limits.
3. Split who enters, who approves and who pays.
4. Name a backup, then test with three bills.

Before you start

You need to know:

• Who handles bills today
• Your usual bill sizes
• Which suppliers or jobs are sensitive

The delegation of authority template generator builds a full matrix. The Xero approval workflow checklist lists what to turn on.

A policy you can copy

Example Plumbing Supplies has four people. Their policy fits on one page:

Bill total including GST	Who approves
Up to $1,000	Any office staff member other than the person who entered it
$1,001 to $5,000	Operations manager
Over $5,000	Owner
Any bill from a new supplier	Owner, for the first bill

Backup: if the operations manager is away, the owner approves. The person who enters a bill cannot approve it. The owner reviews a list of approved bills each month.

The manual way in Xero and MYOB

1. Turn on approval. In Xero turn on bill approval in your organisation settings. Only users with the right role can approve a bill. Give that role to the people in your policy.
2. Use user roles. Keep the list of Standard and Advisor users short. Remove people who have left.
3. Use the Awaiting approval tab. Go to Business > Bills to pay > Awaiting approval. Each approver checks there.
4. Set limits by hand. Xero does not route by dollar amount. Write the limits in the policy and check them in a regular review.
5. In MYOB. AccountRight does not have a built-in multi-step bill approval. Use user access and a written rule.

Limits: with the built-in tools your limits are a rule on paper. Nothing stops a person approving over their limit.

The Pulsify way

Every Pulsify company starts with a default rule: any Admin or Approver can approve. Add steps for your limits.

1. Open Approvals. Turn on multi-step approvals.
2. Add a step. Add a row that asks a person, a role or a team. Set the conditions: amount range, supplier, GL account or job.
3. Add a backup approver on step one for bills that match no row.
4. Use a Review step if you want a bookkeeper to check coding before the approver sees the bill.
5. Add auto-approve rules for small, trusted bills if you want them to skip the queue.
6. Use Try an invoice on the board to test a sample bill before you save.
7. Approvers can bulk approve clean bills. Reject takes a reason.

Common mistakes

• Too many levels. Three is plenty for a small team.
• No backup. Bills pile up when one person is away.
• Letting entry and approval sit with one person. Split the roles.

Next step

Try an invoice and build your limits on the approval board. Read the approval workflows guide and the invite your team guide. The free invoice approval workflow generator helps you draft one.