Approvals

Who approves a report, approval levels and limits, approval rules, stand-ins while away, and what approving does in your books.

Approvals in the menu lists the reports waiting for you. The number beside it shows how many there are.

Who approves whose reports

An admin chooses each person's approver in Settings > Users, roles & approvers (the Reports go to column).
With no approver chosen, any admin can approve.
People can't approve their own reports. Admins can when Admins may approve their own reports is on in Preferences.

Admins choose how reports are approved in Settings > Approvals:

One approver: each report goes to the person's approver.
Up the reporting chain (Standard and above): the report goes to the person's approver. When the total is above that approver's approval limit, it goes on to their approver, and so on, up to the number of levels you choose. Set approval limits in Users > More. An approver with no limit gives the last approval on any amount.
Approval rules (Professional and above): rules you set decide the approvers step by step.

Use Who would approve? at the bottom of the page to see the steps a report would go through today.

Approval rules

Each rule has conditions and steps. A rule applies to a report when all its conditions match:

the report total is in a range
it has an expense in one of the chosen categories
the person is in one of the chosen departments
it is, or isn't, for a project

The steps are approved in order. Each step can be the person's approver, their approver's approver, the head of their department, the owner of the project, or a chosen person. A step with no one to fill it, such as a department with no head, is passed.

Rules are tried from the top, and the first one that matches decides. Move a rule up or down with the arrows. A report no rule matches goes up the reporting chain.

Departments and their heads are set in Settings > Departments. Put people in a department in Users > More.

Approve

Open the report, check the expenses, receipts and any policy flags, and click Approve. The Approval box on the report shows every level, who approved it and when.

At a level before the last, approving passes the report to the next approver. They are told by email and in the bell. Someone who has already approved the report is not asked again.
At the last level you choose the date it goes into the books and can add a note.
Admins can tick Give the last approval now at any level to pass the levels after it. Turn this off in Settings > Approvals if every level must approve.

The last approval writes one journal in your books:

each category's expense account, without the tax that can be claimed back
the input tax (CGST and SGST or IGST in India, the input tax account elsewhere)
what the business owes the person, on their employee account, for what they paid
the cash or bank account, for what the business paid itself

The person is told, and Finance sees the report under Reimbursements. When everything was paid by the business there is nothing to pay back, and the report is done.

Reject

Click Reject at any level and say why, for example "The hotel receipt is missing". The person fixes it and sends the report again. It then starts again from the first level.

While you're away

Approvers open My settings > While I'm away and choose who approves for them and until when. Reports waiting for you show in that person's Approvals too, and they are told. You can still approve them yourself. Choose No one to stop.

Reminders

In Settings > Approvals > Remind approvers, choose after how many days a waiting report sends its approver a reminder by email and in the bell. It is sent again each time the same number of days goes by.

Undo an approval

An admin can open an approved report that hasn't been paid back and choose ... > Undo approval. The journal is cancelled in your books, and the report waits again at the level that gave the last approval.