Skip to content
Open appSchedule a pilot

AP Approval Workflow

AP Approval is an opt-in, per-business workflow that holds a bill in Pending Approval (out of the ledger) until the right people sign off. Set your limits once, name the approvers, and work the Approvals queue; the bill posts to Received only after final approval. It is part of the AP Automation add-on (or a firm plan that bundles it).

Key capabilities

  • Per-business Bill approval workflow switch (off by default); when off, bills skip approval entirely
  • Routing by vendor, then by amount and contract match: auto-approve, Operations, or Advisor + Owner
  • Approvers by vendor: name the people who approve a specific vendor's bills, ahead of the amount tiers
  • Adjustable auto-approve and Operations limits (defaults $500 and $5,000) and an optional reminder timeout, shared across your firm's clients
  • Per-tier approver assignment with Manage approvers
  • Approvals queue with Active and Completed tabs, tier filters, Waiting on me, inline Approve and Reject
  • AI risk scores (0-100, up to three factors) and Approve All Low-Risk for scored bills below 40
  • Queue health strip: pending count per tier and the age of the oldest waiting bill
  • Payment terms count from setting: invoice date (default) or date received
  • Notifications, firm-wide visibility at Firm Approval Policies, and a full audit trail

How it works

With the switch on, a cleaned-up draft is sent for approval and moves to Pending Approval. DayZero first checks for a vendor route, then routes by amount and contract match. Each gate waits for a person; final approval posts the bill to Received and its journal entry, while a rejection moves it to Canceled.

flowchart TD
  draft["Cleaned-up draft bill"] --> send["Send for Approval"]
  send --> vendor{"Vendor approval route?"}
  vendor -->|"Yes"| vend["Vendor's approvers"]
  vendor -->|"No"| check{"Amount and contract match"}
  check -->|"Small and matched"| auto["Auto-approved"]
  check -->|"Mid-range"| ops["Operations approval"]
  check -->|"Large or not matched"| adv["Advisor, then Owner"]
  auto --> recv["Received (posted to ledger)"]
  ops --> recv
  adv --> recv
  vend --> recv

How to use it

  1. Open Approval Policies (Controls group in the Accounts Payable sidebar) and turn on Bill approval workflow.
  2. Click Set Up Approval Policy, enter the Auto-Approve Max and Ops Approval Max limits, and save.
  3. Click Manage approvers to choose who can sign off at Operations, Advisor, and Owner.
  4. Optional: expand a vendor's row in Vendors and use Add route under Approval routing to pick that vendor's approvers.
  5. Open a draft bill and click Send for Approval. Bills created from the Bill Inbox enter approval on their own when the switch is on.
  6. Open Approvals. Use the tier pills or Waiting on me to focus the Active tab.
  7. Click Approve, or Reject with an optional reason. Use Vendor history on a card for context, or View bill to open it.
  8. Click Score risk to rate your recent bills, then Approve All Low-Risk to clear the easy ones.
  9. Review finished decisions on the Completed tab.

Pro tips

  • Start conservative (for example auto-approve under $500, Operations up to $5,000); Adjust thresholds only affects bills sent afterward.
  • Assign approvers per tier. Until you do, any business owner or admin (or the managing firm's staff) can respond.
  • If one person is approver for consecutive tiers, one Approve carries through both. Use different people for a real second signature.
  • Keep vendor contracts current: only a Matched bill can auto-approve, and Over Contract or Needs Review bills never do.
  • Use an approval route for vendors whose bills one specific person must see, such as a project lead for a contractor.
  • If invoices reach you weeks after their date, set Payment terms count from to Date received so bills do not arrive overdue.

In-depth guide

Enabling and sending for approval

  • With the switch off, a draft bill moves through Approve Draft (Forecasted) and Mark Received, which posts the entry. Bills created from the Bill Inbox post straight to Received.
  • With the switch on, Send for Approval replaces Approve Draft and records the expense account and amount so the bill posts correctly once approved. A Forecasted bill can be routed with Submit for AP Approval. Move to Draft withdraws a bill from approval.
  • A bill stuck in Pending Approval with no one able to act shows a force-resolve panel: approve it with an expense account, or reject it.

Routing rules

  • A matching vendor route comes first. Its approvers decide (any one, or every approver if you tick Every approver must approve); a route can be limited to one expense ledger and a maximum amount (a bill above the maximum falls back to the amount tiers). After they approve, a bill with a contract issue still goes to Advisor review.
  • With no route: at or below the auto-approve limit and Matched, the bill is auto-approved. Above that and up to the Ops limit, it goes to Operations.
  • Everything else goes to Advisor review and then Owner final approval. That includes bills over the Ops limit and small bills whose contract status is anything other than Matched.
  • Bills show Contract Matched, Over Contract, Needs Review, No Contract, or Unknown; see Vendor Contracts.

Thresholds, approvers, and reminders

  • The policy belongs to the advisory firm that manages the business, so limits, approvers, and the timeout are shared by all of that firm's clients. Only the on/off switch and Payment terms count from are per business.
  • Adjust thresholds requires the Ops limit to exceed the auto-approve limit. Re-running Set Up Approval Policy with new values overwrites the limits without disturbing bills in flight.
  • Escalation timeout (hours), 1 to 720, re-alerts approvers once when a bill waits too long at Operations or Advisor. It never approves or rejects for you, and the Owner step has no timeout.
  • With approvers assigned, only those users can act at that tier. Approver counts also show on the firm-wide page, which manages limits only.

Working the queue

  • The Approvals sidebar badge counts only bills waiting on tiers you approve; clear Waiting on me to see everything.
  • Score risk rates your 30 most recent draft and received bills. Scores read High risk (70+), Needs review (40-69), or Low risk (under 40); Approve All Low-Risk acts on queue bills scored below 40.
  • A bill showing Routing for approval is being re-routed and cannot be actioned yet. If someone else already decided, the queue refreshes.
  • You can also approve from the bill detail while its approval is pending.

Payment terms basis

Payment terms count from applies to bills arriving by email or upload. Invoice date keeps the due date from the document. Date received counts terms from arrival: Net 30 on an invoice dated 8/4 that arrives 9/10 is due 10/10. The term comes from the vendor's default terms, then the invoice's own terms, then your business default; otherwise the extracted due date is kept. The review form explains how the date was derived. It applies only to bills received after you change it.

Notifications and audit

Approvers get an in-app notification when a bill reaches their tier, plus Slack when connected; email is reserved for urgent alerts such as overdue reminders. The assigned advisor is copied. Every decision is recorded in the Audit Log with the user, bill, and tier.