Workflow Template

Payment Approval Workflow

Collects payment requests, verifies them against the supporting invoice, routes for manager or finance director approval based on amount, handles discrepancies via a correction loop, and releases approved payments with full status tracking.

Finance teams lose hours chasing payment approvals through scattered emails, re-checking invoices manually, and losing track of which requests are stuck waiting on a manager or director. This workflow registers each payment request as a record, verifies it against the supporting invoice, routes it to the right approver based on amount, and loops discrepancies back to the requester for correction before re-verification. The result is a single record per request with a visible status—Submitted, Under Verification, Pending Approval, Authorised, or Paid—so finance staff always know what stage a payment is at without asking around.

Business Outcomes

Fewer payments released without proper invoice verification
Faster turnaround on approvals through automatic routing by amount
Reduced back-and-forth on discrepancies with a built-in correction loop
Clearer visibility into where each payment request stands at any time
Less manual tracking of payment references and release dates

Workflow Steps

Steps

1
Create Payment Request Recordcreate record
Registers the submitted payment request as a record.
2
Set Status to Submittedupdate record
Marks the record status as Submitted.
3
Send Acknowledgement Emailsend email
Emails the requester an acknowledgement with their reference number.
4
Set Status to Under Verificationupdate record
Marks the record status as Under Verification.
5
Finance Officer: Verify Against Invoicecreate task
Finance officer verifies the request against the supporting invoice and records the result.
6
Save Verification Resultupdate record
Persists the verification result and comments to the record.
7
Route on Verification Outcome
Routes to discrepancy handling or approval based on the verification result.
verification_result: "Discrepancy"→Set Status to Returned
verification_result: "Verified"→Route Approval by Amount
Default→End
8
Set Status to Returnedupdate record
Marks the record status as Returned due to a discrepancy.
9
Request Corrected Details from Requesterrequest external input
Emails the requester the verification comments and asks them to submit corrected details.
10
Save Corrected Detailsupdate record
Persists the requester's corrected details to the record.
11
Set Status Back to Under Verificationupdate record
Marks the record status as Under Verification again ahead of re-checking.
12
Loop Back to Verificationrestart from step
Restarts the workflow from the verification task to re-check the corrected details.
13
Route Approval by Amount
Routes to manager approval for amounts under $10,000 or finance director approval for larger amounts.
amount: "10000"→Set Status to Pending Approval
amount: "10000"→Set Status to Pending Approval
Default→Set Status to Pending Approval
14
Set Status to Pending Approvalupdate record
Marks the record status as Pending Approval ahead of manager review.
15
Manager Approvalrequest approvalrequires approval
Requests the manager's approval for payments under $10,000.
16
Route Manager Approval Decision
Routes based on the manager's approval decision.
approval_status: "approved"→Set Status to Authorised
approval_status: "rejected"→Set Status to Rejected
Default→End
17
Set Status to Pending Approvalupdate record
Marks the record status as Pending Approval ahead of finance director review.
18
Finance Director Approvalrequest approvalrequires approval
Requests the finance director's approval for payments of $10,000 or more.
19
Route Director Approval Decision
Routes based on the finance director's approval decision.
approval_status: "approved"→Set Status to Authorised
approval_status: "rejected"→Set Status to Rejected
Default→End
20
Set Status to Rejectedupdate record
Marks the record status as Rejected.
21
Send Rejection Emailsend email
Emails the requester that the payment was not approved.
22
Set Status to Authorisedupdate record
Marks the record status as Authorised.
23
Finance: Release Paymentcreate task
Finance releases the payment and records the payment date and reference.
24
Save Payment Detailsupdate record
Persists the payment date and reference to the record.
25
Set Status to Paidupdate record
Marks the record status as Paid.
26
Send Payment Released Emailsend email
Emails the requester that the payment has been released.

Fields

Show all 15 fields

FormPayment Request Form

Requester Name*· Text
Requester Email*· Email
Payee*· Text
Payment Purpose*· Long text
Amount*· Number
Currency*· Text
Due Date*· Date
Payment Method*· Choice
Supporting Invoice*· File upload

TaskFinance Officer: Verify Against Invoice

Verification Result*· Choice
Verification Comments· Long text

TaskFinance: Release Payment

Payment Date*· Date
Payment Reference*· Text

Other fields

Request Status*· Choice
Corrected Details*· Text

Requester Name*
Requester Email*
Payee*
Payment Purpose*
Amount*
Currency*

Forms

Payment Request Form

9 fields

Data Views

Payment Requests

payee, amount, due_date, payment_reference +1 more

Dashboard Widgets

Payments by Request Status

Recommended integrations

Setup the following integrations to extend workflow capability.

Send email in the workflow
AWS SES

payment approvalpayment authorizationaccounts payablepayment requestfinance approval

Similar Workflows

Invoice Approval Workflow Expense Claim Workflow Purchase Order Approval Workflow

Similar Categories

Governance & Compliance

FAQs

What happens if the finance officer finds a discrepancy during verification?

The record status is set to Returned and the requester receives an email with the finance officer's comments asking for corrected details. Once the requester submits corrections, the record status moves back to Under Verification and the workflow loops back to the verification task automatically. This keeps discrepancies visible on the record's timeline rather than lost in email replies.

Can this handle payments above and below a specific approval threshold?

Yes, the workflow routes payments under $10,000 to a manager approval task and payments of $10,000 or more to a finance director approval task. The routing happens automatically based on the Amount entered on the request form, so no one has to manually decide who should approve a given payment.

What happens if a manager or finance director rejects the payment?

If either approver rejects the request, the record status is set to Rejected and the requester is emailed to let them know the payment was not approved. The rejection and any comments entered during approval are kept on the record's timeline for reference.

What if the requester submits corrected details but there's still a discrepancy?

The correction loop can repeat as many times as needed—each time the requester submits corrected details, the record returns to Under Verification and the finance officer checks again. Every verification result and set of comments is saved to the record, so the full history of attempts is visible in the timeline.

Who is involved in approving and releasing a payment?

A finance officer verifies the request against the supporting invoice, a manager or finance director approves based on the amount, and a finance team member releases the payment and records the payment date and reference. Each of these is a task assigned to a workspace member, and the workflow waits for the verification and release tasks to be completed before moving on.

Can we customise the approval amount threshold or the approvers involved?

Yes, the $10,000 threshold and the routing logic can be adjusted by describing the change in plain English or editing the step directly in the workflow editor. Earlier versions of the workflow are kept, so changes can be reviewed or reverted if needed.

What does the requester see and do during this process?

The requester submits the initial request through a public request form, then receives an acknowledgement email with their reference number. If a discrepancy is found, they receive an emailed form asking for corrected details, and later they receive either a rejection email or a payment released email—all without needing an account.

What information is kept on the record once a payment is released?

The payment date and payment reference entered by finance during release are saved directly to the record, along with the verification result, comments, and any corrected details submitted earlier. Each business should confirm what records it needs to retain for its own compliance purposes, but the record's timeline and status history are available throughout.

Can the workflow track where a payment request currently stands?

Yes, every record has a status—such as Submitted, Under Verification, Returned, Pending Approval, Authorised, or Paid—that updates automatically as the request moves through each step. Table views and dashboards display records by status, making it easy to see which payments are stuck or ready for release.

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