Expense Approval Workflows

Expense approval workflows ensure submitted expenses are reviewed and approved by appropriate managers before reimbursement. Workflows can be simple (manager approval) or complex (manager → finance → executive).

# Understanding Approval Workflows

An approval workflow defines:

• Approval steps: How many approval nodes a submission passes through (1, 2, or 3+)
• Approvers: Who reviews at each step — specific users, user groups, the requester's manager, or the manager of the previous approver
• AI agent review: Light can review expense reports against your expense policies and auto-approve compliant ones
• Conditions: When different approval paths apply (e.g., approvers vary by amount or entity)

Most organizations use manager approval: Employee submits, manager approves, Finance processes reimbursement.

# Default Approval Workflow

Light includes a default Expense Reimbursement workflow, triggered when an expense report is submitted:

• AI agent review: Light reviews the expense report against your expense policies
• Compliant: The expense report is approved automatically
• Non-compliant: The expense report is sent to the inbox for manual review

You can customize this workflow in the visual editor.

# Setting Up Approval Workflows

# Opening the Workflow Editor

1. Navigate to Settings → Workflows (Open in Light →)
2. Click the Expense Reimbursement workflow to open its visual editor
3. Use the toolbar at the bottom to add Action or Condition nodes
4. Connect nodes to define the approval flow
5. Click Publish to activate your changes — draft workflows don't apply to new submissions

# Adding Approval Steps

1. In the visual editor, add an approval node

2. Specify Approvers:

   • Specific users: Fixed people with approval authority
   • User groups: Members of a group can approve
   • Manager of requester: The submitting employee's manager
   • Manager of previous approver: For chained, multi-level approvals

3. Mark each approver as required or optional

4. Each approval node branches into if approved and if rejected paths — connect each to the next step

5. To vary approvers by amount or other criteria, route submissions into different approval nodes using condition nodes

# Conditional Approval Rules

For complex scenarios, add condition nodes:

1. In the visual editor, add a Condition node

2. Set the condition (IF), for example:

   • If Amount > $500
   • If Entity = [specific entity]
   • If Reimbursement submitter = [specific user]
   • If a custom property has a certain value

3. Connect each branch — including the "else" default path — to the appropriate approval step

4. Conditions are evaluated in order, and the first match determines the path

# Manager Approval Process

# Receiving Expense for Approval

Managers receive notifications when employees submit expenses:

1. Email notification: "New expense from John Smith ($245) awaits your approval"
2. In-app notification: Alert in Light interface
3. Slack/Teams notification (if enabled): Message in chat app

Click notification to open expense for review.

# Reviewing an Expense

1. Click the notification or navigate to Tasks (Open in Light →)

2. View expense details:

   • Receipt image: See what was purchased
   • Amount and merchant: What was spent and where
   • Category: What type of expense
   • Employee notes: Context about expense
   • Spending limit: Whether it's within policy

3. Review for:

   • Legitimacy: Is this a real business expense?
   • Policy compliance: Does it violate company policies?
   • Reasonableness: Is the amount appropriate?
   • Accuracy: Is category correct?

4. Click Approve or Reject

# Approval Actions

Approve Expense:

1. Click Approve
2. Optionally add comment: "Looks good"
3. Click Confirm Approval
4. Expense moves to payment queue
5. Employee gets notification: "Your expense was approved"

Reject Expense:

1. Click Reject

2. Provide reason:

   • "Non-business expense"
   • "Exceeds policy limit"
   • "Already reimbursed in error"

3. Click Confirm Rejection

4. Employee is notified with the reason

5. Employee can reset the rejected expense report, which moves its expenses back to draft so they can revise and resubmit

# Batch Approvals

Approve multiple expenses at once:

1. Navigate to Tasks (Open in Light →)
2. View all expenses awaiting your approval
3. Scan quickly to spot issues
4. Select multiple legitimate expenses (checkboxes)
5. Click Bulk Approve
6. Optionally add comment applying to all
7. Click Approve All

All selected expenses are approved together.

# Finance Review (Optional)

Some organizations have Finance review before reimbursement:

1. After manager approval, expense moves to Finance queue (if configured)

2. Finance team reviews:

   • GL account mapping: Correct account for reimbursement
   • Cost center: Correct allocation
   • Documentation: All details present
   • Duplicate: Not already paid

3. Finance approves or returns to manager if issues

This adds control but increases processing time.

# Approval Dashboard

Manager view of all expenses awaiting approval:

1. Navigate to Tasks (Open in Light →)

2. See:

   • Pending count: How many expenses waiting for you
   • Overdue: Tasks past their due date
   • By employee: Grouped by who submitted
   • By amount: Sorted by expense amount

3. Click filters:

   • Show only over a certain amount ($500+)
   • Show only specific categories (travel, meals, etc.)
   • Show only from specific employees

4. Sort by:

   • Date received: Oldest first (don't forget old ones)
   • Amount: Largest first (focus on significant ones)
   • Employee: Group by person

# Mobile Approvals

Approve expenses on the go:

1. Open Light mobile app

2. Navigate to Tasks

3. View pending expenses

4. Tap any expense to see:

   • Receipt photo
   • Full details
   • Employee notes

5. Tap Approve or Reject

6. Add comment if needed

7. Confirm

Mobile approval supports fingerprint/face authentication for security.

# Related Articles

• Expense management overview
• Reimbursement workflow
• Expense policies and spending limits