Overview


The Invoice Approval Settings feature allows you to establish a structured approval process for invoices within your accounting module. This ensures that all invoices undergo the necessary scrutiny before being processed, reducing errors and enhancing financial control. By setting up standard and custom approval rules, you can tailor the approval workflow to meet the specific needs of your organization. This feature helps streamline operations, maintain compliance, and provide clarity on the approval status of invoices.

Introduction

  1. Standard Approval: Users will always go through a standard rule which is locked. This rule ensures that every invoice goes through a basic level of scrutiny. You can only set primary or secondary approvers for the standard rule.

  2. Custom Rules: Users can set additional custom rules that are triggered if invoices meet specific criteria (e.g., invoices for a specific vendor, amount, COA).


Roles of Primary and Secondary Approvers

  1. Primary Approvers:

  2. Primary approvers are notified of the invoices pending their approval.

  3. They have the authority to approve or reject invoices based on the standard approval rules.

  4. Secondary Approvers:

  5. Secondary approvers have the ability to approve invoices but do not receive notifications.

  6. They can override the primary approvals if necessary. This is useful in cases where expedited processing or additional scrutiny is required.

  7. Secondary approvers see the invoices in the "All Invoices" tab and can review and approve them as needed.

Prerequisites to Configure Invoice Approvals

  • Permissions Required:

  • Users must have AP Settings permissions within the Administration > Roles > Accounting > Administration section.

How to Configure AP Settings - Invoice Approval


Step 1: Accessing Invoice Approval Settings (update image with demo acct)

  1. Log in to Inn-Flow with your credentials.

  2. Navigate to the left main navigation and select Accounting.

  3. Scroll down to the Settings Section and select the AP Settings (Previously called Invoice Approvals).

  4. You will now see two tabs: General and Invoice Approval.

  5. Select the Invoice Approvals tab.

Note: For more details on General Settings, please see the Knowledge Base article Accounts Payable General Setting Configuration



Step 2: View and Edit Approval Rules

  • View Existing Approval Rules:

  • The existing approval rules are listed on the left side of the screen. For example, Standard Approval.

  • Edit an Approval Rule:

  • Select an existing rule to edit. For instance, click on Standard Approval to view its details

Step 3: Configure Primary and Secondary Approvers

  • Add Primary Approvers:

  • In the Primary Approvers section, click Add Role.

  • Select the appropriate role(s) from the dropdown list (e.g., Sales, Corporate).

  • Add Secondary Approvers:

  • In the Secondary Approvers section, click Add Role.

  • Select the appropriate role(s) from the dropdown list (e.g., Corporate Controller).

  • Note: Secondary Approvers have the ability to approve the rule but will not be notified to do so. Use this for any role that can approve the rule but is not their main responsibility.



Step 4: Add a New Approval Rule

  • Create a New Approval Rule:

  • Click Add Approval at the bottom of the approval list.

  • Enter the details for the new approval rule:

  • Name: Enter a name for the rule.

  • Approval Type: Select the type of rule from the dropdown. Options include:

  • COA (Chart of Accounts)

  • Department

  • Invoice Amount

  • Vendor

  • Internal Note: Add any internal notes if necessary.

  • Primary Approvers: Click Add Role to select the primary approvers.

  • Secondary Approvers: Click Add Role to select the secondary approvers.


Step 5: Save Changes

  • Save or Discard Changes:
  • After configuring the approvers, click Save Rule to save the changes.
  • If you want to discard the changes, click Discard.


Step 6: Understanding the Benefits of Configuring Invoice Approval Settings

  1. Enhanced Financial Control: Maintains tighter control over financial operations through structured approval processes.

  2. Reduced Errors: Helps catch errors early, reducing the risk of processing incorrect invoices.

  3. Compliance: Enforces internal policies and external regulations by maintaining approval protocols.

  4. Transparency and Accountability: Ensure clear approval paths and roles, maintaining accountability at each step.