Introduction

By default, the Expense Authorisation Workflow routes requests based on amount - smaller claims to managers, larger ones to Admins.

This article explains how to switch to an alternative workflow that sends all expense requests directly to Managers and then a Secondary approver, ensuring consistent approval and clearer accountability.

Standard Expense Authorisation Workflow

The system's default approver for expense requests depend on the expense amount. All approval rules are as followed:

Employee requests expense and they do not have a manager – All Admins are notified, and any one can reject/approve

Employee requests expense under 100 and they have one or more managers – Managers are notified and any one can approve or reject

Employee requests expense over 100 and they have one or more managers – Managers are notified and any one can approve or reject. If approved, all Admins are notified, and any one can reject/approve

Expense Authorisation Workflow - Managers & Secondary

We offer an alternative workflow that sends an employee's requests to the line manager first and then if approved goes to a 'Secondary approver', specified in the job details section of an employee’s profile.

Where there is more than one current job role, resulting in more than one Line manager and Secondary approver, only one of each group must approve.

All rules are as follows:

Employee requests expense and has a manager – The request is sent to the manager, and can approve or reject.
Employee requests expense and has a manager and secondary approver – The request is first sent to the manager (if multiple, anyone can approve or reject), and once approved, then sent to the secondary approver (if multiple, anyone can approve or reject).

Employee requests expense and does not have a manager – The request is sent to the Admins, and any one can approve or reject.
Admin requests expense and has no Line Manager or secondary approver – The request is automatically approved.

How it works

Employee adds an expense through the Expenses Mobile App.

Manager receives an email and task to action:

Once approved, the secondary manager will receive the same. If approved by both, the employee is notified by email.

How to get this Workflow

This workflow is available for organisations on the Elite and Enterprise tier. You can find it in the Workflow Hub.

Requirements

A new field is required in the Job details screen for you to specify who the secondary approver is for each employee. Click here for an article on how to create or edit a screen.

Required Fields

Field Type	Field Name	Notes
User picker	Secondary approver	To be added in the Job details screen - we advise to place this near the manager field so it's easily visible.

FAQs

Will this change all pending requests to the new approver rule?

Moving to this workflow will only impact requests going forward, any expenses requested prior to this change will adhere to the standard authorisation workflow.

How do I add the secondary approver field?

You can do this via the Screen Designer. The field must be called 'Secondary approver' (case sensitive) and must be present in the Job details screen. We suggest adding it next to the Line Manager field so it's quick to find and compare the two.