What is Invoice Approval?
If you want tighter control over your invoice process, you can require invoices to be approved in MarginEdge before they are sent to your accounting system. You can choose to require approval for all invoices, or set rules so that only certain invoices need approval based on vendor, expense category, or amount. This gives you a flexible way to review invoices, make quick edits, and catch issues before they close, helping support more timely and accurate reporting.
ℹ️ Invoice Approval Access
Only users with Accountant or Admin roles roles can approve invoices. See the role guide for more details.
Article contents
How to turn on invoice approval
Click the Orders menu and choose Invoice Approval.
Select "Invoice Approval Setup" button
Select an approval mode (more on the the options below)
Save your changes.
Invoice approval modes
There are three modes of Invoice Approval
Off - No invoice approval
All - All invoices will require approval by your team before they will be closed
Some - Invoices matching one or more rules will require approval before closing
Invoice Approval Mode - Off
By default, invoice approval is off for your location. This means your invoices close automatically once it has been processed by our team.
Invoice Approval Mode - All
When you choose 'All,' you can also decide whether to include credits in the approval process. If 'Include credits' is not selected, credits will not require approval and will close automatically.
Invoice Approval Mode: Some
When you choose Some, you can set rules to require approval only for invoices that meet specific conditions. An invoice can be routed for approval if it:
- includes a brand new vendor item
- includes products in a specific category
- exceeds the spend threshold for a selected category
- is a credit
- comes from a specific vendor
- comes from a new vendor
Keep reading for more details on each!
Set approval rules for new vendor items
To require approval only for invoices that include new vendor items (items you are purchasing for the first time) select 'Only require invoices with new vendor items' and click 'Save.'
You can use this option on its own or together with your vendor and category rules. That way, you can still require approval for specific vendors or categories while also reviewing any invoice that includes a new vendor item.
If you have been using the New Vendor Item Review this can help streamline your process!
Set approval rules for categories
Under the 'Categories' tab, select the categories you want to include in Invoice Approval. Any invoice with products assigned to one of those categories will require approval.
You can also set a minimum dollar threshold in the Amount column for each category:
- If you leave the amount blank, any invoice with that category will require approval.
- If you enter an amount, only invoices meeting or exceeding that amount for the selected category will require approval.
To include credits that contain products in those categories, select Include credits in invoice approval, then click Save.
In the example below, only invoices with $50 or more in Beer expense category charges will require approval:
Set approval rules for vendors
Under the 'Vendors' tab, select the vendors you want included in the approval workflow. Any invoice from a selected vendor will require approval.
You can also select 'Require approval for new vendor' if you want the first invoice from any newly created vendor to require approval, even if that vendor is not otherwise selected.
To include credits from selected vendors, select 'Include credits in invoice approval,' then click 'Save.'
In the example below, invoices from all new vendors and invoices from the vendor Coastal Sunbelt Produce Company will require approval:
Adjusting your invoice approval settings
Even if you have activated invoice approval for certain categories or vendors or you choose to have all the invoices go through manual invoice approval, the invoice approval setting can be changed at any time by going to Orders > Invoice Approval and clicking on "Invoice Approval Setup".
Follow the same steps as you did for setting up invoice approval to make any adjustments.