Build expense approval workflows

Required roles: Finance manager and Finance approver
Required permissions: View expenses settings

Workflows are currently only available for US or UK-based payers using Tipalti Expenses, but will be expanded to other Tipalti products in the future.

From Expenses settings, you can easily build custom approval flows to fit your organization's specific needs. These workflows can contain multiple approval steps, rules, and conditions, providing you with your own dynamic, intelligent approval process.

Save time by simply setting up the If and Then logic once, to determine when to add approvers each time an expense is submitted.

The standard setup includes manager and finance approval, with options to add or skip approvers based on amount thresholds, expense categories, employees or custom fields. You can assign single approvers per rule, or mix and match conditional approvals for flexibility.

Here are some examples of custom approval workflows you could create:

• If amount is less than £500 → Manager approval only
• If category = meals or entertainment + amount is more than £1000 → CFO approval
• If department = sales → Skip-level manager approval
• If employee = Name + amount is more than £500 → Manager + Finance approval

This ensures compliance without slowing employees down and helps finance teams automate approvals so they’re reviewed by the most relevant personnel.

Create a workflow

For expense submissions, you can create a fully customized approval workflow with multiple approvers and steps. Workflows consist of three main elements - steps, rules, and conditions:

• Workflows contain steps
• Steps contain rules
• Rules contain conditions
  

To create a workflow:

1. Go to Administration > Expenses settings > Workflows tab.
2. Select the entity you want to manage. For more info on entities, go to Switch entities.
3. If there are no custom workflows in that entity, click Add first step.
   If another user has already created a custom workflow for that entity, click Edit.
4. In the Add new approval step dialogue, enter the name of the step. We suggest you give steps a name that is easy to recognise in the flow, e.g., ‘Direct manager approval’. 
   Click Add step.
   
5. An empty step is added to your flow. Now you can add one or multiple rules in this step. Click Add rule.
   
6. Next, you can start setting If and Then conditions for your rule.

Add and edit conditions

Once you’ve added a step and rule to a workflow, you can add conditions.

To add a condition:

1. Select which type of condition you want to set for your If logic:
   • Amount
   • Category
   • Employee
   • Custom field (only list type custom fields supported)
     
2. Next, select the operator of the condition (e.g., is more than, is less than).
   Enter the amount, category, or employee value of the condition (e.g., $500 for amount, or Meals for category).
   
3. If you selected Custom field, select from your custom fields (only list type fields), then the operator (e.g., is equal to), and the relevant values. For more info on custom fields, go to Administrative operations.
   
4. To add multiple conditions, click Add condition. The conditions will be displayed in order.
   You can use And or Or between conditions. The And logic means the additional condition must be met in the rule, whereas the Or logic means one of the conditions must be met.
   
5. To delete a condition, simply click on the trash can icon next to the condition.
   

Add and edit approvers

Once you’re done with the conditions, you can set the Then logic, (the outcome or action that will be taken if the conditions are met). You can assign a different approver for each rule in a step.

To add an approver:

1. Click Add approver and then select if you want to assign a Specific approver, Direct manager, or Skip-level manager.
   
2. For Specific approver, enter or select the name of the user you want to approve.
   
3. For Direct manager, there is no need to select a specific approver. Direct managers can be imported from a CSV file or synced from the ERP during onboarding. Learn more about importing your employee org chart.
4. For Skip-level manager, the approval is assigned to a manager who is two or more hierarchical levels above an employee in their organization (e.g., their direct manager’s manager).

Save and publish a workflow

Once you’re done setting rules and conditions and have added the desired steps to the approval workflow, click Save.

In the dialogue, confirm you wish to Save and publish workflow. Changes made to workflows apply to all future submissions for the selected entity, but not expenses that were already submitted.

Once saved, the new workflow will be activated. Employees can continue to submit expenses as before, but now Tipalti routes each expense dynamically according to the configured rules.

Reorder rules

To reorder rules, simply click Edit, then drag and drop the rule from the left to the correct position. To view a rule, click on the expand arrow. Please note, each step must end on an absolute rule, e.g., adding an approver.

Add, rename, or delete steps

To add a step to a workflow, click on the plus (+) button in the workflow preview on the left, where you want to add a step.

Then follow the same steps as above: add a step name, rule, and conditions.

To delete or rename a step, click on the three-dot menu on the right next to the step.

Common questions