Approving or rejecting bills

What is this page about: How to review a bill in your Tasks list, and decide whether to approve or reject it.

# On this page

• Review the bill details
• Approve the bill
• Reject the bill
• After you approve
• Frequently asked questions
• Related articles

When a vendor sends an invoice to your company, it might need your approval before payment. Light keeps that decision simple: everything you need to review a bill lives in one place, so approving or rejecting it only takes a few seconds. Here's how to review and approve, or reject, a bill in Light.

# Review the bill details

When you click on a bill in your Tasks list, you'll see:

• Vendor name: Who sent the invoice
• Amount: How much is being billed
• Invoice date and number: For your records
• Bank details: Where payment will be sent
• Attachments: The original invoice file, as a PDF

To see the individual line items, click Open Bill. (This button only appears if you have permission to view bills.)

Take a moment to make sure everything looks right. Check that:

• The vendor is legitimate and you recognise them
• The amount matches what you expected
• The goods or services were actually received
• Line items match your records (open the bill to check these)

# Approve the bill

Once you're confident everything is correct, click the Approve button.

The bill will then move to the next person in the approval chain (if there is one), or move on toward payment if you're the final approver.

# Reject the bill

If something doesn't look right, click Reject. You can add an optional comment explaining why, then click Confirm to finish. This feedback helps the bill get corrected and resubmitted. A rejected bill can be reset to draft, fixed, and sent through approval again.

Common reasons to reject:

• The amount doesn't match the invoice
• Goods or services were not received
• The vendor is not approved
• The invoice is a duplicate

# After you approve

Once approved, the bill moves forward in the process. If you're the final approver, the bill is recorded in accounting and moves toward payment. Depending on your company's payment guardrails, it is either scheduled for payment automatically or held for a final payment release. If there are more approvers, it goes to them next.

You'll see the bill status change in Light, and the approver after you will be notified it's their turn.

# Frequently asked questions

# Do I have to leave a comment when I reject a bill?

No. A comment is optional, but adding one helps the person who submitted the bill know what to fix before resubmitting.

# What happens to a bill after I reject it?

It can be reset to draft so the submitter can fix it and send it through approval again.

# What happens after the last approver approves a bill?

It's recorded in accounting and moves toward payment. Depending on your company's payment guardrails, it's either scheduled automatically or held for a final payment release.

# Where do I see the line items on a bill?

Click Open Bill to see the full itemised breakdown. They're not part of the initial review card.

# Will I be notified when it's my turn to approve or reject a bill?

Yes. Once the bill reaches you in the approval chain, you'll be notified that it's waiting on you.

# Related articles

• Your approval tasks
• Approving or declining reimbursements
• Approving or declining vendors