Expense Approval Workflows

#Understanding Approval Workflows

An approval workflow defines:

• Approval levels: How many levels of review (1, 2, or 3+)
• Approvers: Who reviews at each level (usually managers)
• Escalation: What happens if approver doesn't respond (escalate to manager's manager)
• Rules: When different rules apply (e.g., approvers vary by department)

Most organizations use manager approval: Employee submits, manager approves, Finance processes reimbursement.

#Default Approval Workflow

Light includes standard workflow:

• Level 1: Employee's direct manager reviews and approves
• Escalation: If manager doesn't approve within 3 days, escalate to their manager

You can customize or create additional workflows.

#Setting Up Approval Workflows

#Creating a Workflow

1. Navigate to Settings > Approval Workflows
2. Click Create Workflow
3. Enter Workflow Name (e.g., "Standard Expense Approval")
4. Choose Default: Whether this applies to all expenses
5. Click Create

#Adding Approval Levels

1. In the workflow, click Add Level

2. Set the Level Number (1, 2, 3, etc.)

3. Specify Approvers:

   • By Role: All managers, all team leads (flexible if people leave)
   • By User: Specific people (for fixed authority)
   • By Department: Different approvers per department

4. Set approval Authority:

   • All expenses: Approver reviews everything
   • By Amount: Different approvers for different thresholds (e.g., amounts under $1,000 vs. over)

5. Set Timeout and Escalation:

   • Days before escalation (e.g., 3 days)
   • Who to escalate to (manager of manager, VP, etc.)

6. Click Add Level

#Conditional Approval Rules

For complex scenarios, define rules:

1. Click Add Rule

2. Set the condition (IF):

   • If Department = Engineering
   • If Expense Amount > $500
   • If Category = International Travel
   • If Employee Level = Contractor

3. Set the action (THEN):

   • Then Assign to [Manager/Finance]
   • Then Require 2 Approvals
   • Then Require VP Approval

4. Set Rule Priority: Order of evaluation

5. Click Add Rule

#Manager Approval Process

#Receiving Expense for Approval

Managers receive notifications when employees submit expenses:

1. Email notification: "New expense from John Smith ($245) awaits your approval"
2. In-app notification: Alert in Light interface
3. Slack/Teams notification (if enabled): Message in chat app

Click notification to open expense for review.

#Reviewing an Expense

1. Click notification or navigate to Approvals > Pending

2. View expense details:

   • Receipt image: See what was purchased
   • Amount and merchant: What was spent and where
   • Category: What type of expense
   • Employee notes: Context about expense
   • Spending limit: Whether it's within policy

3. Review for:

   • Legitimacy: Is this a real business expense?
   • Policy compliance: Does it violate company policies?
   • Reasonableness: Is the amount appropriate?
   • Accuracy: Is category correct?

4. Click Approve or Request Changes

#Approval Actions

Approve Expense:

1. Click Approve
2. Optionally add comment: "Looks good"
3. Click Confirm Approval
4. Expense moves to payment queue
5. Employee gets notification: "Your expense was approved"

Request Changes or Clarification:

1. Click Request Changes or Need Clarification

2. Type specific request:

   • "What business purpose was this for?"
   • "This seems high. Please explain."
   • "Receipt is unclear. Can you provide original?"

3. Click Send Request

4. Employee receives request and can respond

5. After response, expense returns to your queue for re-review

Reject Expense:

1. Click Reject

2. Provide reason:

   • "Non-business expense"
   • "Exceeds policy limit"
   • "Already reimbursed in error"

3. Click Confirm Rejection

4. Employee is notified with reason

5. Employee can revise and resubmit or dispute

#Batch Approvals

Approve multiple expenses at once:

1. Navigate to Approvals > Pending
2. View all expenses awaiting your approval
3. Scan quickly to spot issues
4. Select multiple legitimate expenses (checkboxes)
5. Click Bulk Approve
6. Optionally add comment applying to all
7. Click Approve All

All selected expenses are approved together.

#Delegation

Temporarily delegate approval authority:

1. Navigate to Approval Settings
2. Click Delegate Approvals
3. Select Delegate To: Person taking over
4. Set Duration: Until what date
5. Select Approval Levels: Which approvals to delegate
6. Click Delegate

Delegated person receives all notifications until delegation expires.

#Finance Review (Optional)

Some organizations have Finance review before reimbursement:

1. After manager approval, expense moves to Finance queue (if configured)

2. Finance team reviews:

   • GL account mapping: Correct account for reimbursement
   • Cost center: Correct allocation
   • Documentation: All details present
   • Duplicate: Not already paid

3. Finance approves or returns to manager if issues

This adds control but increases processing time.

#Escalation and Timeouts

#Escalation Triggers

If approver doesn't respond:

1. Clock starts when expense is assigned to approver

2. Default timeout: 3 days (configurable)

3. If not approved by timeout:

   • Escalate to escalation target (usually manager's manager)
   • Escalation target is notified

4. Escalation target can approve or return to original approver

#Escalation Notification

Original approver is notified that expense was escalated:

• "Expense XYZ has been escalated. VP needs your feedback."
• Creates urgency for approval

#Adjusting Timeouts

By workflow or by department:

1. In Workflow settings, set Timeout Days
2. Or by rule: Engineering might have 2-day timeout, others have 5 days
3. Short timeouts (2-3 days): Fast processing but may frustrate approvers
4. Long timeouts (7+ days): Less pressure but slower for employees

#Approval Dashboard

Manager view of all expenses awaiting approval:

1. Navigate to My Approvals or Approvals in app

2. See:

   • Pending count: How many expenses waiting for you
   • Overdue: Expenses past your timeline (if escalation is set)
   • By employee: Grouped by who submitted
   • By amount: Sorted by expense amount

3. Click filters:

   • Show only over a certain amount ($500+)
   • Show only specific categories (travel, meals, etc.)
   • Show only from specific employees

4. Sort by:

   • Date received: Oldest first (don't forget old ones)
   • Amount: Largest first (focus on significant ones)
   • Employee: Group by person

#Mobile Approvals

Approve expenses on the go:

1. Open Light mobile app

2. Navigate to Approvals

3. View pending expenses

4. Tap any expense to see:

   • Receipt photo
   • Full details
   • Employee notes

5. Tap Approve or Request Changes

6. Add comment if needed

7. Confirm

Mobile approval supports fingerprint/face authentication for security.

#Escalation Analytics

Monitor approval workflow health:

1. Navigate to Reports > Approval Metrics

2. View:

   • Average approval time: How long expenses take to approve
   • Escalation rate: % of expenses escalated
   • Rejection rate: % of expenses rejected
   • Bottleneck approvers: Who slows down workflow

3. Use to identify problems and improve process

#Related Articles

• Expense management overview
• Reimbursement workflow
• Expense policies and spending limits