An expense approval workflow decides who signs off a claim, at what amount, and who covers absences. In most organisations with 20 to 500 staff, nobody wrote those rules down. They live in habits. A small claim goes to whoever is nearby. A large one waits for a senior person to return.
That works until the finance director travels during month end. Claims stack up, receipts fade, and people start approving over WhatsApp. A written expense approval workflow ends the guesswork.
This guide shows how to design approval steps and set approval limits. It also covers the day an approver is away. It is written for finance directors and controllers at organisations of about 20 to 500 staff. The advice works with any system, including a spreadsheet and email.
What Your Expense Approval Workflow Has to Decide
Every expense approval workflow answers three questions. Skip one, and the gap shows up as a delayed claim or an unchecked payment.
- Who approves? The line manager usually comes first, because they know whether the spending was real. Finance then checks the numbers and the receipts.
- At what amount does a second approver step in? A threshold sends large claims to someone with wider authority, such as a finance director.
- What happens when the approver is away? Without a named backup, claims wait or move through informal channels.
Write the answers on one page before you open any software. A tool only automates decisions you have already made.
Map How Approvals Really Work Today
Start with the current state. Ask five recent claimants whose desk their claim crossed. Compare their answers with your written policy.
The official rule and the real practice often differ. Look for three problems:
- Claims that skip the line manager because the manager is hard to reach. The first check never happens.
- Claims that sit a week or more at one desk. This is a bottleneck the new design must remove.
- Claims approved by someone with no authority to approve them. Approval limits exist to close this gap.
This map shows where the new expense approval workflow must be faster and where it must be stricter.
Design the Approval Steps for Your Expense Approval Workflow
Approval steps are the stages a claim passes through, in order. Each step needs an owner and a reason to exist. Most organisations in this size range need two or three.
The first step belongs to the line manager. They can tell whether the trip happened and whether the spending fits the job. Their question is simple: was this spending needed?
Finance asks a different question: do the amounts, receipts and accounts hold up? This split is manager and finance approval, and it keeps the two questions apart. The manager judges the business need. Finance checks the journal, which shows the debits and credits, before anything is posted.
Add a step only when it catches something the earlier steps cannot. A finance director step makes sense for large totals. In BORDExpense, a step can apply only when a condition holds, such as a total above an amount. Small claims then skip it.
Next, decide who each step reaches. You can route a step to the submitter’s department manager, to named people, or to everyone holding a role. A department manager suits the first step because it follows your reporting lines. Named people suit a step with one owner, such as the finance director. A role suits a step where any one of several people can act.
Place your spending rules before the first step. A missing receipt should stop a report at submission, not at the approver’s desk. BORDExpense runs these rules at submission. The employee can fix the problem while the receipt is still to hand. You can see the approval steps and spending rules on real screens.
Set Approval Limits That Match Real Authority
An approval limit is the largest total an approver may sign off. It turns your reporting lines into a rule. Without limits, a team lead can approve a large claim by accident.
Set limits by role, not by person. People change jobs, and roles stay stable. Anchor each limit to your delegation of authority, the document that lists who may commit company money.
Then test the limits against real claims. Pull six months of reports and sort them by total. If most claims sit above the manager’s limit, the limit is too low. The finance director will drown in routine approvals. If almost none reach the second step, the threshold is too high and you lose control.
Check limits when the report is submitted, not afterwards. Otherwise a report can sit with someone who cannot approve it. BORDExpense checks each approver’s limit at submission and tells the employee why a report cannot go to that approver.
The table below shows a sample matrix for a 200-person organisation. The amounts are illustrative. Replace them after you sort your own claims.
| Report total | Who approves, in order | Why the band exists |
|---|---|---|
| Up to ₦100,000 | Line manager | Routine trips and purchases. One person who knows the work is enough. |
| ₦100,001 to ₦500,000 | Line manager, then head of department | The head of department owns the budget line and can spot patterns across the team. |
| Above ₦500,000 | Line manager, then finance director | Material amounts need the person accountable for company cash. |
| Cash advance above ₦250,000 | Line manager, then finance director | Cash leaves before any receipt exists, so the risk sits at the front. |
Place each band edge just above the amount where scrutiny should increase. Do not pick round numbers for their own sake. Review the limits every year. Prices rise, and a limit set three years ago may now send almost every report to the second step.
Build a Multi-Level Approval Chain Without Slowing It Down
A multi-level approval chain sends one report through several approvers in order. The approval chain is the full path from submitter to final approver. More levels add control, and they also add waiting.
A sensible ceiling for ordinary claims is three levels. Use conditions to keep small claims short. A claim under the first threshold should cross one desk. A claim above the last threshold should cross all of them. Let amounts add steps, not habit.
Give every approver the full picture. Each approver should see every line, its receipt and any policy flag on one page. The approver’s one-page view in BORDExpense works this way. When approvers can decide from one screen, they decide faster.
A rejection should always carry a reason. Without one, the employee must chase the approver, and the delay doubles.
Plan for the Approver Who Is Away
Every approver will be away at some point. Leave, travel and illness all pull people off their desks. Month end does too, when finance is busiest. Decide in advance who covers each one.
Name one backup for each approver. Give the finance director a second backup. A backup needs an approval limit equal to or above the person they cover. Otherwise the backup receives reports they cannot approve.
In BORDExpense, an administrator can hand an approver’s work to someone else while they are away. That beats approving by email on someone’s behalf. The record shows who actually decided, and an auditor can trace it.
Protect Your Expense Approval Workflow With Segregation of Duties
Segregation of duties means no single person controls a transaction from start to finish. The simplest rule is that nobody approves their own claim.
The harder case is the approver who also submits claims. Route a manager’s own report to their manager. Watch for peers who approve each other’s claims in turn, because that defeats the purpose.
Split the money roles as well. One person approves a cash advance, and Finance records the pay-out. Give finance managers view access without posting rights. In BORDExpense, finance managers see everything Finance sees but cannot post or record a pay-out.
Keep an audit trail that no one can edit. Every change to an approver, a limit or a step should appear in it. An audit then starts from a clear record instead of a pile of emails.
Give Cash Advances Their Own Approval Steps
Cash advances need a separate chain inside your expense approval workflow. Money leaves before any receipt exists, so the risk sits at the front. Set a lower threshold for the finance director on advances than on expense reports.
Approval is only the first half. The employee must still account for the money. Our guide on how to retire a cash advance walks through receipts, returned cash and the closing balance. Finance then posts each stage. The cash advance accounting entry guide shows the debits and credits.
Set a retirement deadline in days. Once it passes, an unsettled advance should block the next request. This rule protects cash without adding another approver.
Test the Expense Approval Workflow Before Go-Live
Run five real claims from last quarter through the new design. Include a small claim, a large claim, a manager’s own claim and a cash advance. Add one filed while an approver is away. Each one tests a different rule.
The small claim tests the fast path. The large claim tests your limits. The manager’s claim tests segregation of duties. The cash advance tests its separate chain. The absent approver tests your backup plan.
Fix any claim that lands with the wrong person. Then put a yearly review in the calendar. Thresholds age as prices and headcount change.
Turn Your Expense Approval Workflow Into Rules People Follow
A good expense approval workflow gives small claims a short path and large claims a careful one. Three decisions make that happen, and each protects you in a different way.
- Approval steps put the right person in front of each claim. Manager and finance approval keeps the business question apart from the accounting question.
- Approval limits stop a report from reaching someone who cannot approve it. They also keep your finance director out of routine claims.
- Delegation keeps claims moving when an approver is away. It also removes email approvals that nobody can trace.
BORDExpense was built around these decisions for finance teams in English-speaking Africa. Administrators set the approval steps, limits and spending rules, and every change lands in the audit trail. Visit BORDExpense to see how it works. You can also request a demo and bring your current expense policy. The team will show you the same steps on real screens.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Expense Approval Workflow
What is an expense approval workflow?
An expense approval workflow is the set of steps, approvers and limits that govern a claim. It names who approves, at what amount, and who covers absences. A clear one speeds small claims and adds control to large ones before payment.
How many approval steps should an expense approval workflow have?
Most organisations with 20 to 500 staff need two or three approval steps. The first is the line manager. The second is Finance or a finance director, depending on the amount. That pairing is manager and finance approval. A third step suits only very large totals. More than three levels usually adds waiting without adding control.
How do you set approval limits for each approver?
Set limits by role, using your delegation of authority as the anchor. Sort six months of past claims by total. Place each limit just above the amount where scrutiny should rise. Then confirm that no approver receives a report above their limit. Review the limits every year.
What is a multi-level approval chain?
A multi-level approval chain routes one claim through several approvers in sequence. Each approver adds a check that the one before cannot. Amount conditions keep small claims on a short path. Large claims travel the whole approval chain.
What happens when an approver is away?
Claims wait unless you plan a backup. Name a cover for each approver, with an equal or higher approval limit. In BORDExpense, an administrator can hand an approver’s work to someone else. Record the handover so the audit trail shows who decided.
Can a manager approve their own expense claim?
No. Nobody should approve their own claim, because that removes the independent check. Route a manager’s report to their own manager or the next approver up. This is segregation of duties in its simplest form.
Do you need expense software to run an expense approval workflow?
No. You can run an expense approval workflow with a written matrix, email and a spreadsheet. The cost is chasing and tracing. As claims grow, a tool applies limits at submission and keeps a full audit trail. BORDExpense works with or without Sage X3. You can request a demo to see the steps on real screens.