Menu

Enabling Monetary Approval Levels Follow

Monetary Approval is an optional layer of approval based on monetary amounts. Approval levels are limits to a person's approval authority. Expense reports will move up the approval chain based on reporting relationship until it is approved by a person with an approval limit that exceeds the expense report total.

This article will show you how to enable monetary approval levels and assign approval levels to expense approvers.

Enable and Create Monetary Approval Levels

  • First, turn on approval levels by going to Settings > Company Preferences > Feature
  • In the Enhancement Features section, toggle Use monetary approval levels to green (YES), and click Save. 

monetary_1.png

  • You’ll notice a new tab Approval Levels has appeared. Click on it, and click Add Approval Level. 

monetary_2.png

  • Enter the Name and the amount that represents the approval limit. For each level, the associated manager can approve reports UP TO that amount. Toggling Unlimited Approval to YES would ignore the approval limit. Click Create when ready. 

monetary_3.png

Assign Approval Levels

  • To assign a manager to an approval level, go to Settings > Manage Lists > People, and click on a manager.
  • Under the Permissions tab, make sure the manager has been given the Approve Expenses permission, and you’ll find the Expense Approval Level drop-down menu right below.
  • Select the appropriate approval level for this manager, and click Save and Exit. 

monetary_4.png

Example Scenarios

Monetary Approval is based on expense report total, not by individual transaction amounts.

Example Setup #1: I have three approval levels – 1K, 3K, and Unlimited.

John’s User Manager is the 1K approver. John submits his expenses against a project that has a Project Manager assigned to the 3K level. The Executive Assistant to the CFO is an Unlimited Approver and is assigned as the Default Approver in the account.

  • Scenario A: John submits a report with a total of $3,000 or below => the report goes through the standard approval (User Manager & Project Manager) and arrives on the Export screen.
  • Scenario B: John submits an expense report with a total of $3,001 or above, but none of the expense items exceed $3,000 => after John’s User Manager and Project Manager have approved, the entire report moves on to the Unlimited Approver (the Executive Assistant to the CFO, in this case), because the report total exceeds the highest approval level assigned in the standard hierarchy.
  • Scenario C: John submits an expense report that contains 3 expenses, which are respectively $100, $300, and $5,000 => same results as scenario B.
  • Scenario D: In a company where Unlimited Approver is non-existent, John submits expenses that are $3,001 or above => after the User Manager and Project Manager have both approved, the report would be sent to the Default Approver (even if this person does not have a spend threshold assigned).

Example Setup #2: Anne reports to Barbara. Barbara has a $1K approval level. Barbara reports to Cindy. Cindy has a $5K approval level. Cindy Reports to Debbie. Debbie has an Unlimited approval level.

  • Scenario A:
    • Anne submits an expense report for $4,000.
    • The report would go to Anne's manager, Barbara.
    • Barbara approves.
    • Barbara's limit is less than the report total so Tallie will route it to Barbara's manager, Cindy.
    • Cindy approves. The report is now fully approved.
  • Scenario B:
    • Anne submits an expense report for $5,001.
    • The report would go to Anne's manager, Barbara.
    • Barbara approves.
    • Barbara's limit is less than the report total so Tallie will route it to Barbara's manager, Cindy.
    • Cindy approves.
    • Cindy’s limit is less than the report total so Tallie will route it to Cindy’s manager, Debbie.
    • Debbie approves. The report is now fully approved. 

When using Monetary Approval Levels, all approval levels must have at least one approver assigned. Otherwise, if an expense item exceeds all monetary levels in the approval hierarchy, it will be sent to the Default Approver after the standard approval flow is completed.

Because monetary approvals move up the chain of approval, it is important that everyone has a manager (unless they are at the top of the organization) and that each manager has an approval level.

We recommend that you have at least one approver assigned to the Unlimited level. This way, in case an expense report exceeds all monetary levels, the Unlimited Approver will be responsible to approve it and it won’t fall through to the Default Approver.

Related articles