Set up bill approvals and controls

Set up how bills move through review and approval, and control what happens after approval. This ensures bills reach the right approvers, coding is complete before payment, and your team isn't forced to restart the entire approval process when a minor mistake is caught late.

Required user role: Technical admin
Required permissions: Payer administrator

Configure approval workflows

Bill approvals define how bills are reviewed and approved in Tipalti.

You can:

• Create bill approval rules to decide who approves bills and when
• Configure bill approval settings for reminders, escalation timing, and AI-suggested approvers

Set up bill approval rules

Bill approval rules define the approval steps used when a bill is submitted.

1. Go to Administration → Bill settings → Bill approval rules.
2. Click Turn on to enable bill approval rules.
   
3. Click Rule settings to configure how approvers are assigned.

If not enabled, rules are not applied to the bill. Approvers are suggested by Tipalti AI or are added manually.

Rule settings

Support for Purchase Orders and expenses will be added in a future release.

In Rule settings, choose the rule behavior:

• Flexible: Bills can be submitted even without a matching rule
  • If a bill doesn't match a rule:
    • The bill can still be submitted
    • Matching rules are applied
  • If partially matched or no rules match:
    • AP processors can add approvers
    • Tipalti AI can suggest approvers
  • If a rule cannot be applied:
    • The rule is skipped
    • The bill continues
• Strict: Bills must match a rule to be submitted
  • If a bill doesn't match a rule:
    • The bill cannot be submitted
  • When changing this setting:
    • Applies only to bills in Pending Review or Pending AP Action
    • Bills already in approval are not affected

Click Save to apply changes, or Close to exit.

Add or manage rules

1. Click Add new rule to create a rule.
2. Follow the on-screen steps to define the rule conditions and assign approvers.
   
3. Duplicate or edit rules using the icons next to each rule.
4. Delete rules using the delete icon.
5. Click Save to apply changes.

Rule setup details

• Rules are based on bill fields (for example, custom fields or expense account).
• If no conditions are selected, approvers are assigned based on tier setup.
• If required fields are missing, the rule won't match until fields are completed.
• A maximum of 10 tiers are allowed per rule. Tier amounts must be entered in USD.

How rules match bills

• Rules match based on bill details and coding fields
• Matching can occur at:
  • Bill header level
  • Bill line level
• If multiple rules match:
  • The most specific rule is applied
  • If equally specific, the first created rule is applied

For example:

• Rule 1: All departments, all locations
• Rule 2: Sales department, US location

Bills for sales US will be matched with rule 2

Approval tiers and chains

Approval tiers assign approvers based on the bill amount.

Each tier includes:

• An amount range
• Assigned approver(s)
• Optional approval chains (multiple approvers per tier)

Tiers are defined in USD. Bills in other currencies are automatically converted for evaluation.

Example

If the tiers are:

• $0–$1,000 USD — Paul
• $1,001 and above — Sarah

Then:

• With Approval chain enabled: a $5,000 bill is approved by Paul and Sarah
• With Approval chain disabled: a $5,000 bill is approved by Sarah only

Tier amounts may be displayed in a single currency depending on your account settings.

Assign approvers

All approvers are managed through Team Management and can be assigned based on approval levels.

• Each approver must have an approval level configured in Team Management
• Approval levels determine which approvers are eligible for different bill amounts

If approval levels are not visible for a user, they may need to be configured in Team Management before they can be used in level-based rules.

Level/User toggle

When creating or editing a rule, you can use the Level/User toggle to assign approvers by level or by a specific user:

• Level — Assigns any approver who meets the configured level criteria
• User — Assigns a specific named approver

When Level is selected, the approver field shows Select level. When User is selected, the approver field shows Select approver.

To import bill approvers via CSV, go to Team Management.

How approvers are assigned

Approvers can be added to a bill from multiple sources. These are applied in combination to determine the final approval flow:

• Payee default approver configuration
• Tipalti AI suggestions (if enabled)
• Approval rules
• Manual addition

To troubleshoot, open the bill and review assigned approvers before submission.

Configure approval settings

Bill approval settings help keep approvals moving.

Turn a setting on or off

1. Click the edit icon for a setting.
2. Turn the setting on or off.
3. Click the save icon.
   

Reminders and escalation

Set the number of days to wait before:

• Sending reminders:
  • Sent repeatedly based on your configuration
  • If fewer than 3 bills: separate emails
  • If 3 or more: one summary email
• Escalating:
  • Escalates to the approver's manager

Approvers cannot approve or reject from email. They must log in to Tipalti.

Learn how to upload bill approvers.

To configure approver escalation, see Team Management.

Control editing after approval

Even with a well-designed approval process, mistakes happen — a wrong GL code, a missing field, noticed only after the bill is fully approved. This setting lets your AP team fix specific fields without sending the bill back through the entire approval process, while keeping a full audit record of every change.

Tipalti records all updates in the bill audit.

When editing is allowed

• Only when bill status is Pending payment
• Not supported for Purchase order–matched bills
• Before ERP sync status changes to complete

Choose editable fields

Define which fields AP processors can edit after approval. To configure this, go to Configure bill structure and coding.

1. Go to Administration → Bill settings → Bill field settings.
2. Click Edit.
3. In Allow post-approval editing, select:
   • Yes (editable)
   • No (not editable)
4. Click Save, then Confirm.
   

Settings apply to newly created bills.

Set editing timeframe

Define how long edits are allowed after approval.

Options:

• During ERP accounting period
• During ERP accounting period + month end close
• At any time
  

Use dropdowns to configure period and additional days.

Related settings

You can also update:

• Bill currency
• Tax amount editing

ERP support

• NetSuite 2.0
• Sage Intacct

Posting period behavior

If the ERP posting period is closed:

• The update may fail, or
• The bill may be recreated in a different period

Learn how AP processors change an approved bill.

Governance best practices

• Use strict rules when full control is required
• Use flexible rules when AP needs manual override flexibility
• Ensure required fields are completed before approval
• Keep approval rules aligned with coding structure
• Regularly review rules and escalation settings
• Limit post-approval editing to required fields only

Common questions

Approval rules

Post-approval editing