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Approval policy design

Recommendation​

Start with one or two policies. A STANDARD policy covers most employees - employee's approver at Level 1, auto-approve below a petty-cash threshold. Add a second policy only when a group of employees genuinely needs different approval routing, not just a different threshold.

Why​

Each policy must be maintained separately. When thresholds change or approvers change roles, every affected policy needs updating. Policies that differ only in a single amount threshold can almost always be collapsed into one policy using amount-based approval conditions instead of separate policies. Fewer policies also make it easier to audit who approved what and why.

How to apply​

Level 1 only is the right default. Add Level 2 or Level 3 only when you have a genuine two-step sign-off requirement - for example, the employee's manager at Level 1 and a finance controller at Level 2 for expenses over a threshold.

Set a meaningful auto-approve threshold. Zero (no auto-approve) means the approver sees every coffee receipt. A threshold equivalent to your petty-cash limit (e.g. $25-$50) eliminates the low-value queue without bypassing real review. Don't set it so high that significant expenses routinely skip human review.

Use Fixed Approver for category-specific oversight. Added on top of the employee's approver, a fixed CFO approver on entertainment expenses is a legitimate extra check. A fixed approver can also be the only approver, to route an entire category to one specialist - for example a policy with just the IT manager as fixed approver, assigned to the IT equipment category on the employee profile, so IT equipment expenses go to the IT manager alone. Reserve the only-approver form for narrow, specialist categories, and make sure substitute approval covers the approver's absence - otherwise those expenses stall.

Use Amount-Based Approval to add a senior reviewer at high amounts. For example: employee's approver handles everything up to $500; the CFO is added automatically above that. This avoids a blanket two-level policy for all expenses.

Levels set parallel vs sequential approval. Approvers on the same level approve in parallel - the expense moves on only once all of them have approved. Use this when several people must sign off together: e.g. the employee's approver and the project approver both at Level 1 (manager and project manager approve in parallel), then a finance manager at Level 2. Put approvers on different levels when you want strictly sequential sign-off.

Common mistakes​

Auto-approve threshold too high - setting auto-approve at $500 means most real expenses are never reviewed. Start low and raise only if the approver workload is genuinely excessive.

Fixed approver as the only approver for general expenses - if the fixed approver is on annual leave, expenses are stuck. For everyday expenses, combine a fixed approver with the employee's approver at a different level. The only-approver form is fine for a narrow specialist category (see above), as long as substitute approval covers absence.

Policy created but not assigned to an Employee Profile - a policy has no effect until it is assigned to a profile at the category level. Creating the policy is only half the job.

When to deviate​

Regulated industries (financial services, professional services with client billing) often require multi-level approval regardless of amount. In these cases, a two-level policy with no auto-approve threshold is the correct starting point.

Project-based organizations where project owners are directly accountable for expense budgets benefit from always routing project-linked expenses through the Project Approver, even for small amounts. Use a dedicated policy for project-linked expense categories rather than applying the same policy everywhere.