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, roles, or role extensions.
Notes on approvals for bills
You can set up approvals for bill payments by defining workflows for bills 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 bills linked to purchase orders where the approved and billed amount, and the approved and delivered quantity match.
A workflow for bills linked to purchase orders where the approved and billed amount, and the approved and delivered quantity don't match.
A workflow for bills not linked to any purchase orders.
Applying segregation of duties
You can enforce segregation of duties when configuring the approval workflows for bill payments in Payhawk. This means that employees who confirm payment details for an expense cannot also authorize its payment, even if they have the necessary permissions defined in the workflow.
Currently, the segregation of duties option is available by default for bill payments only. To enable it for reimbursable, mileage, or per diem expenses, you must first disable automatic payment details confirmation for those expense type.
If an employee who confirmed payment details attempts to pay that expense in bulk along with others, they must first deselect the restricted expenses to proceed with authorizing the remaining payments. This restriction supports the four-eyes principle and helps prevent potential fraud.
By default, the segregation of duties option is enabled and is available at the individual and group level.
Setting workflows for bill payments
For this example, let's assume you haven't defined any workflows for bill payments (invoices) yet, and that you want to create approval for bill payments with no purchase orders:
In the Payhawk web portal, go to the Settings > Workflows > Expense types tab.
In the Bill 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.
For the approval step of the bill 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 roles for your company, for example, Custom Field 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 extension. 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, role, or role extension that will be allowed to review the bill payments 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, role or role extension 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, role, or role extension that will be allowed to authorize (pay) bank transfers for immediate or scheduled bill payments with no purchase orders linked to them - for example, any Payhawk Administrator.
Choose whether to apply the Segregation of duties option by keeping the toggle on, or not, by disabling the toggle.
Click on Save.
Click on Publish workflow to apply all the changes you've made.
Setting workflows for other types of expenses
You can set up approvals for card transactions, mileage, per diem, reimbursements, and company cash, similarly to how you do for bills, except for Card payments and Company cash.
Card expenses are paid at the time of the transaction (when the card is used), and company cash is paid out directly in cash. As a result, Card payments and Company cash approvals include only the Submit and Review steps, without the additional payment step required for the other expense types.