Flexible Approval Rules in Expense
With Flexible Approval Rules, Expense allows you to create approval workflows that are tailored to your organization's structure, cost centers, projects, or approval limit requirements. The feature enables automatic routing of expense reports, ensuring that the appropriate reviewer or approver handles each report. This helps organizations automate approval processes, improve compliance, and reduce administrative work.
What Are Flexible Approval Rules?
Flexible Approval Rules can be used to:
- ✅ Route approvals based on internal accounts
- 💰 Define approval limits for different approvers
- 👥 Create multiple review and approval stages
- 📊 Adapt workflows to your organization's needs
👉 Ideal for organizations that want to automate and control their approval processes.
Activate the Feature
Before you can use Flexible Approval Rules, the functionality must be activated.
Step-by-Step
- Contact Expense Support
- Request activation of Flexible Approval Rules
✅ The feature will then become available in your Expense environment.
Assign Permissions
Users who will review or approve reports must be assigned the appropriate permissions.
Step-by-Step
- Navigate to Administration > People
- Select the relevant user
- Enable:
- ✅ Can Review
- ✅ Can Approve
✅ The user is now authorized to participate in the approval workflow.
Enable the Review Step (Optional)
If you want to use both reviewers and approvers:
Step-by-Step
- Navigate to Administration > Admin Panel
- Scroll to the workflow settings section
- Enable Reviewer
✅ An additional review step is added to the workflow.
Prepare Internal Accounts
Flexible Approval Rules require an active internal account.
If you do not already have one:
Step-by-Step
- Create a new internal account
- Select the dimension type Other
- Enable:
- ✅ Do Not Export to Accounting
👉 This account is used solely for approval workflow management.
Activate the Approval Workflow
Step-by-Step
- Navigate to Administration > Settings
- Select Approval Method
- Choose the internal account that will control the approval workflow
- Click Save
✅ The approval workflow is now linked to the selected internal account.
Add Approvers and Approval Limits
Step-by-Step
- Navigate to Internal Accounts
- Open the internal account used for the approval workflow
- Open the Approved By / Reviewed By tab
- Click New Approver
- Select:
- 📊 Account Code
- 👤 Approver
- 💰 Approval Limit
- Click Save
✅ The approval workflow is now active.
Important Considerations
All internal account codes that are part of the workflow must:
- ✅ Be assigned to an approver
- ✅ Belong to the same approval structure
⚠️ If an account code does not have an approval rule assigned, the workflow will not function correctly.
Exclude Users from the Workflow
If certain users should not follow the Flexible Approval Rules workflow:
Step-by-Step
- Navigate to Internal Accounts
- Open the internal account used for the approval workflow
- Select Exclude from Approval Workflow
- Select the relevant user
- Click Save
⚠️ When a user is excluded, their reports will follow the standard reviewer/approver workflow instead of the flexible approval flow.
Use the Workflow Without Approval Limits
Do you want to use Flexible Approval Rules without applying approval amount limits?
Solution
Assign a high approval limit, for example:
- 💰 100,000 SEK
- 💰 500,000 SEK
✅ The approval workflow will still apply, but without any practical financial restriction.
Handle Purchases Outside the Workflow
Some purchases may not need to follow the Flexible Approval Rules process.
How It Works
- Navigate to Administration > People
- Assign a default reviewer or approver
Transactions that do not use the internal account controlling the workflow will automatically be sent to the specified reviewer or approver.
✅ This ensures that every report has a designated recipient.
Final Approval of Reports
Once all review and approval steps have been completed:
Step-by-Step
- Navigate to Reports > Approve
- Verify that:
- ✅ All reviews have been completed
- ✅ All approval stages have been processed
- Approve the report
✅ The report is now ready for export.
Rejected Reports
If a reviewer or approver rejects a report:
- ❌ The report is returned to the user
- ✏️ The user makes the necessary corrections
- 📤 The report is submitted again
Administrators can track the entire process through the report history.
Track Workflow Status
Administrators can monitor the status of reports by viewing the history.
Available Information
- 👀 Current workflow stage
- 📊 Approval progress
- 💬 Comments from reviewers and approvers
✅ Full visibility throughout the entire process.
Reminders
To reduce delays in the approval process, reminders can be sent to reviewers and approvers.
👉 See the article Manual and Automatic Reminders in Expense.
💡 Best Practice Tips
Build the Workflow Before User Activation
- ✅ Configure approval rules before users begin submitting reports.
Document Approval Responsibilities
- 👥 Maintain a clear list of reviewers and approvers.
Define Approval Limits Carefully
- 💰 Ensure limits align with internal policies.
Test Before Launch
- 📊 Verify that the workflow behaves as expected.
Monitor the Workflow Regularly
- 🔄 Review approval performance and adjust rules when needed.
👉 This helps create faster processing times and fewer approval errors.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Do I have to use approval limits?
No. You can enter a high approval limit and use the workflow without a practical limit.
Can I have multiple approval stages?
Yes. Both reviewers and approvers can be included in the workflow.
Do I need internal accounts?
Yes. Flexible Approval Rules are based on internal accounts.
Can I track who approved a report?
Yes. The complete approval history is stored in the system.
Summary
- ✅ Create advanced approval workflows in Expense
- 💰 Route approvals using approval limits
- 👥 Use multiple review and approval stages
- 📊 Link workflows to internal accounts
- ⚙️ Exclude specific users when needed
- 🚀 Automate and improve the quality of your expense approval process