Workflow Template

Payment Approval Workflow

Captures business payment requests, has a finance officer verify against the invoice, routes approval by amount (manager under $10,000, finance director for larger amounts), marks approved payments as authorised and notifies the requester, or returns rejected payments with a reason for correction and resubmission.

Finance teams lose hours chasing payment sign-offs through scattered emails, only to discover an invoice mismatch after a manager already approved it. This workflow verifies every request against its invoice before routing it, then automatically sends it to a manager or finance director based on the dollar amount, so nothing above $10,000 slips through without director eyes on it. The result: fewer payment errors, no lost approval trails, and requesters who know exactly why a payment was rejected instead of guessing.

Business Outcomes

Cuts average payment approval time from days to hours
Eliminates invoice mismatches reaching final approval
Enforces amount-based routing with zero manual escalation errors
Gives requesters clear, documented rejection reasons for faster resubmission
Creates a full audit trail from submission to authorisation

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 request as submitted and awaiting verification.
3
Verify Request Against Invoicecreate task
Finance officer checks the payment details against the supporting invoice.
4
Persist Verification Resultupdate record
Records the verification outcome on the payment request.
5
Route on Verification Result
If a discrepancy is found, return to requester; otherwise proceed to approval routing.
verification_result: "Discrepancy Found"→Notify Requester of Discrepancy
verification_result: "Matches Invoice"→Route Approval by Amount
Default→Route Approval by Amount
6
Notify Requester of Discrepancysend email
Informs the requester that the invoice did not match the request and needs correction.
7
Mark Rejected Due to Discrepancyupdate record
Sets the payment status to Rejected pending correction and resubmission.
8
Route Approval by Amount
Amounts under $10,000 go to a manager; $10,000 and above go to the finance director.
amount: "10000"→Set Pending Manager Approval Status
amount: "10000"→Set Pending Finance Director Approval Status
Default→Set Pending Manager Approval Status
9
Set Pending Manager Approval Statusupdate record
Marks the record as awaiting manager approval.
10
Manager Approvalrequest approval
Manager reviews and approves or rejects the payment request.
11
Route on Manager Decision
Branches based on whether the manager approved or rejected the payment.
approval_status: "approved"→Mark Payment Authorised
approval_status: "rejected"→Record Manager Rejection Reason
Default→End
12
Finance Director Approvalrequest approval
Finance director reviews and approves or rejects the payment request.
13
Route on Director Decision
Branches based on whether the finance director approved or rejected the payment.
approval_status: "approved"→Mark Payment Authorised
approval_status: "rejected"→Record Director Rejection Reason
Default→End
14
Mark Payment Authorisedupdate record
Updates the payment request status to Authorised.
15
Notify Requester of Authorisationsend email
Informs the requester their payment has been authorised for release.
16
Record Manager Rejection Reasonupdate record
Captures the rejection reason and sets status to Rejected.
17
Record Director Rejection Reasonupdate record
Captures the rejection reason and sets status to Rejected.
18
Notify Requester of Rejectionsend email
Informs the requester that the payment was rejected and must be corrected and resubmitted.
19
Set Pending Finance Director Approval Statusupdate record
Marks the record as awaiting finance director approval.

Fields

Requester Email*
Payee Name*
Payment Purpose*
Amount*
Currency*
Payment Due Date*
+6 more fields

Forms

Payment Request Form

8 fields

Data Views

All Payment Requests

payee_name, amount, currency, due_date +2 more

Dashboard Widgets

Payment Requests by StatusPayment Requests OverviewTotal Amount Requested

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 expense claim purchase order approval

Similar Categories

governance compliance

FAQs

What happens if the invoice verification fails?

The workflow routes the request straight to the discrepancy path, notifying the requester of the mismatch and marking the payment as rejected due to discrepancy. The requester sees the specific reason and can correct and resubmit without waiting on finance to manually flag the issue.

Can this handle payments right at the $10,000 threshold?

Yes, the routing step uses a clear amount rule you set inside assess.one, so you decide exactly how the threshold is evaluated. You can adjust the cutoff at any time without rebuilding the workflow.

What if a manager rejects the request instead of a finance director?

Manager rejections are captured with a recorded reason at the 'Record Manager Rejection Reason' step, then the requester is notified immediately. The payment never reaches the finance director unless the manager approves it first.

Who needs access to this workflow?

Requesters need access to submit payment requests, a finance officer needs access to verify invoices, and managers or finance directors need access only to their respective approval steps. Access can be scoped by role directly in assess.one so each person only sees what's relevant to them.

Can we customise the approval routing logic?

Yes, every step — including the amount thresholds, approver roles, and notification triggers — is editable directly inside assess.one. You can add extra approval tiers, change who gets notified on discrepancy, or adjust status labels without any developer involvement.

How long does it take to get this workflow live?

Publishing the template takes minutes, not weeks. Once published, your team starts submitting and approving real payment requests immediately — there's no separate implementation project or software to install.

What if the finance director also rejects the payment?

The director's rejection reason is recorded at the 'Record Director Rejection Reason' step, and the requester is notified with that specific reason. The payment status reflects the rejection so it's clear the request needs correction before resubmission.

What happens to a payment once it's fully approved?

Once approval clears the correct route — manager only or manager plus director — the payment is marked as authorised. The requester then receives a notification confirming authorisation, closing out the request with a clear audit trail.

Can we track how many payments get rejected for discrepancies versus approval decisions?

Yes, because verification results and rejection reasons are persisted as distinct steps in the workflow, you can distinguish invoice discrepancies from manager or director rejections. This makes it easy to spot patterns, like recurring invoice errors from a specific vendor.

Is this workflow compliant enough for audit purposes?

The workflow records every verification result, approval decision, rejection reason, and status change in sequence, creating a documented trail from submission to authorisation. This structure supports internal audit and compliance reviews without requiring separate manual logging.

Ready to use this workflow?

Create a free account and customise this workflow for your business.