You can define a specific workflow for each type of expense - for example, invoices with or without purchase orders - or set custom conditions for card transactions, per diem, or mileage expenses.
By setting thresholds and defining a specific approver, you can fully customize the processes for the different steps of the expense lifecycle.
Specifics for expense-type workflows
The Submit step requires employees to submit their expenses before they are approved, reviewed, and paid.
If the Submit step is disabled (Submit Off selected), the Approve step will also be disabled and the expense will move straight to the Review tab when created.
To be able to define an approval workflow for the expenses at your company, you have to enable the Submit step.
For the Review, Reimburse, Pay > Confirm details, and Pay > Authorize steps you can select specific employees or roles only.
Notes on approvals for invoices
You can set up approvals for bank transfer expenses by defining workflows for invoices that are either linked or not linked to purchase orders.
Depending on the triggered approval, the workflow that will be applied can be any of the following:
A workflow for invoices linked to purchase orders where the approved and invoiced amount, and the approved and delivered quantity match.
A workflow for invoices linked to purchase orders where the approved and invoiced amount, and the approved and delivered quantity don't match.
A workflow for invoices not linked to any purchase orders.
Setting workflows for bank transfers
For this example, let's assume you haven't defined any workflows for bank transfers (invoices) yet, and that you want to create approval for bank transfers with no purchase orders:
In the Payhawk web portal, go to the Settings > Workflows > Expense types tab.
In the Bank transfers field, click on Edit workflow.
Click on Submit and select the Submit On option to allow employees to submit expenses that will be paid over bank transfers.
Click on Save changes.
For the approval step of the bank transfer expense type, follow the NO PO option and click on + Add approval step. Choose to add your custom approval or use the default template suggestion. For this example, click on + Custom.
The Template option displays any previously defined custom roles for your company, for example, Team manager, so that you don't need to manually select
from the drop-down list of available approvers.
In the dialog that opens, name the step by clicking on the Pencil (edit) icon. Fill in the content and click on the ✔ button.
From the drop-down with available approvers, select the Team manager role. Then, define the desired condition by clicking on + Add condition - for example, Amount.
To specify the amount for which approval will be required, define the quantity limit from the drop-down - for example, less or equal to (<=). On the next line, set the amount - for example, 200.
Click on Save.
To define single-step, multi-step sequential, or non-sequential approvals, follow the guidelines and apply the same steps as above.
To set the rights for reviewing expenses, click on the Review step. From the Review drop-down menu, select the specific employee or role that will be allowed to review the bank transfers at your company - for example, any Payhawk accountant. Click on Save.
To set the rights for confirming expense details, click on the Confirm details step. From the Confirm details drop-down menu, select the specific employee or role that will be allowed to confirm the expense details and the payment execution methods at your company - for example, any Payhawk accountant. Click on Save.
To set the rights for authorizing payments, click on the Authorize step. From the Authorize drop-down menu, select the specific employee or role that will be allowed to authorize (pay) bank transfers for immediate or scheduled payments with no purchase orders linked to them - for example, any Payhawk administrator. Click on Save.
Setting workflows for other types of expenses
You can set up approvals for card transactions, mileage, per diem, reimbursements, and company cash in the same way you do for invoices with the following specifics in mind:
The Confirm details and Authorize steps are available for the expenses paid over bank transfers only.
Instead of the Confirm details and Authorize steps, the Per diem and Mileage workflows have the Reimburse step because employees have already paid them.
Card expenses are paid upon their creation (card usage), and company money is paid in cash - therefore, the Card and Company cash approvals have the Submit and Review steps only.