To stay in control while delegating team spending and invoice payments, you can use multi-level approval workflows. In addition, for any outgoing transfer, you can set up a double-validation policy (4-eyes rule) to ensure no payment is made without being checked by at least 2 people.
This feature is useful if you need to delegate tasks such as expense report reimbursements and invoice payments, so your business can grow without the risk of overspending.
Until the new offering rolls out in October 2026, this feature remains available through the current Supplier Invoices and Team Spend Management modules. From October 2026, custom approval workflows and the 4-eyes rule will be available through the Team Spend Controls module, for Team plans (Essential, Business, Enterprise).
Which roles can set this up?
Owner and Admin roles can configure approval workflows, only from the web app.
Employee, Accountant and Manager roles (without transfer and/or reimbursement permission) can import invoices and submit expense reports and transfer requests for approval.
Owners, Admins, and Company-scope Managers with transfer permission can approve and pay the requests.
How do I customize an approval workflow?
To ensure strict control of your company's spending, follow the steps below.
- From your computer, go to Settings: go to the Tool customization section and click Approval workflows.
- Select and edit the workflow: choose the approval workflow you want to edit — transfer authorization, supplier invoices, or expense reports — then click Edit workflow.
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Set the workflow rules: start by defining the trigger (requester, amount, or supplier), then specify the roles/people who can review and approve the request (business validation, applicable to supplier invoices and expense reports), and finally who can execute the payment (transfer authorization).
💡 If you don't set up transfer authorization, any user with payment permission (Owner, Admin, or Manager) will be able to pay the supplier invoice or reimburse the expense report once it's been approved.
💡 If you set up several rules on different triggers (requester, amount), they'll apply from top to bottom. You can reorder the rules by drag and drop. - Workflow assignment: the workflow will be assigned to all users who submit a request and meet the conditions defined in the approval workflow.
How do I set up the 4-eyes rule?
The 4-eyes rule adds a mandatory second sign-off before any payment is sent. It applies on top of your approval workflow and ensures the person who prepares a payment can never be the one who executes it, for all roles.
💡 Once set up, it applies to all transfers: standard and instant SEPA transfers, bulk SEPA transfers, international transfers, as well as supplier invoice payments and expense report reimbursements.
To activate it:
- From your computer, go to Settings, then Tool customization, then click Approval workflows.
- Select transfer authorization, then click Edit workflow.
- In the workflow rules, set an amount threshold and/or a requester as the trigger, then define the approval step(s) (optional) and finally the execution step (mandatory): this is the person who will authorize the transfer.
- When defining the Execution step, the same person or role won't be selectable: that's the 4-eyes rule in action.
Once activated, this rule applies to all users, including Owners and Admins.
💡 Tip: if you want to exclude a user from this rule — for example the company's Owner — select the requester rule at the trigger step, click "is none of" then select the company's Owner.
Once activated, any change to the 4-eyes rule requires sign-off from another Owner or Admin. This ensures no one can bypass the rule by changing it on the fly.
💡 To learn more about the 4-eyes rule, check out our dedicated FAQ: How do I set up double validation for payments?
| ✅ What can I do? | ❌ What can't I do? |
| Create approval rules for specific requests (transfers, expense report reimbursements, or supplier invoices) | |
| Set up multiple layers of approvers | You can't create more than one approval workflow per category |
| Set up approval rules for specific suppliers or requesters | Custom notifications can't be created |
| Set up rules for suppliers invoices based on amount (threshold or range) | There's no dedicated approval workflow for card expenses |
| Set up rules based on multiple parameters | The person who prepares a payment cannot be the same person who executes it (4-eyes dual approval policy) |
| Set up multi-condition rules based on both requester and amount for transfers |