Assign approvers to an employee
On the Review/Approval tab, you can specify which users are allowed to review and approve an employee's expenses. You can find it under TEAM → Administration → select the user by name → Review/Approval tab.
An employee can be assigned one or more approvers. This allows, for example, a second person to review and approve the expenses while the usual approver is on vacation.
Only users who have been granted the Approver permission under Roles/Permissions can be selected as approvers. If a user is not available for selection, first check their permissions. You can manage a user's permissions under Roles/Permissions.
Who approves the expenses of …?
The upper section Who approves the expenses of …? shows the users who are currently assigned as approvers for the selected employee. Instead of the ellipsis, the employee's name is shown there.
Click Add approver to add one or more approvers. Only users who have previously been granted the Approver permission under Roles/Permissions are available for selection.
To remove an existing approver, click the X on the right-hand side of the corresponding row.
Important: The last approver assigned to an employee cannot be removed while the employee still has expenses awaiting approval. If you want to remove the current last approver, you must either assign another approver first or ensure that there are no expenses awaiting approval.
If no approver has been assigned yet, this is indicated accordingly. Add at least one approver if the employee's expenses are to be processed through the review and approval workflow.
Approval rule when multiple approvers are assigned
If multiple approvers are assigned to an employee, the Approval rule determines how the approval works. You choose it directly below the assigned approvers and save.
- One approval is sufficient: The first decision by any of the assigned approvers counts. If an approver approves the expense, it is approved. If an approver rejects it, it is rejected. The other approvers no longer need to decide.
- All must approve: The expense is only approved once all assigned approvers have approved it. If one of them rejects it, it is rejected, even if others have already approved it. After it is submitted again, all approvers have to decide again.
With a single approver, that approver decides alone; the rule does not matter in that case.
If you change the rule from All must approve to One approval is sufficient while expenses are under review, Spesenfuchs asks for confirmation. Expenses with at least one approval are approved immediately after you confirm.
For whom is … an approver?
The lower section For whom is … an approver? shows the assignment from the opposite perspective. Here you can see which employees the currently selected user is assigned to as an approver.
The upper section therefore determines who can approve the expenses of the currently selected employee, while the lower section determines which other employees the currently selected user can act as an approver for.
Click Add employee to assign additional employees to the currently selected approver.
To remove an existing assignment, click the X on the right-hand side of the corresponding employee.
If you remove an approver while expenses are under review and all remaining approvers have already approved these expenses, Spesenfuchs lists the affected expenses and asks whether they should be approved. The removed approver can no longer decide on these expenses.
The same restriction applies here: If the selected user is the last approver assigned to the respective employee, the assignment cannot be removed while that employee still has expenses awaiting approval. In this case, another approver must first be assigned to the employee, or there must no longer be any expenses awaiting approval.
To be assigned as an approver for other employees, a user must have the Approver permission. You can grant this permission under Roles/Permissions.
Remove the approver permission
As long as employees are assigned to an approver, the checkbox for Approve expenses for user (approver) on their Roles/Permissions tab is locked. A hint on the checkbox tells you to assign their employees to another approver first. Assign other approvers to these employees and then remove the assignments.
You can also only lock or archive an approver once no employees are assigned to them. Otherwise, Spesenfuchs shows Not possible and lists the employees they are still the approver of.
Example: a second approver for vacation periods
An employee currently has one approver. To make sure the employee's expenses are also reviewed while this approver is on vacation, add a second person in the Who approves the expenses of …? section using Add approver. The rule One approval is sufficient applies.
When the employee submits a trip or receipt for approval, the expense is shown to both approvers. The first decision counts: If either approver approves the expense, the approval process is complete. If either approver rejects it, it is rejected. The other approver no longer needs to decide.
If the second approver is no longer needed after the vacation, remove the assignment using the X. Since another approver remains assigned, this is also possible while there are still expenses awaiting approval.
If you then want to remove the last remaining approver, this is only possible if another approver is assigned first or if the employee no longer has any expenses awaiting approval.
Example: line manager and controlling
Anna's trips are to be approved both by her line manager Clara and by Ben from controlling. Add both as approvers for Anna and choose the rule All must approve.
When Anna submits a trip, it is shown to both of them. If Ben approves, the trip remains under review and the review card shows “1 of 2 approved”. Only when Clara also approves is the trip approved. If one of them rejects it, it is rejected.
Approvers and deputies
Additional approvers have nothing to do with the Deputy tab. A deputy enters expenses for other users. Who approves these expenses is set separately in the Review/Approval tab. For more information, see the article Deputy.
Further information
For more information about the process from submitting an expense to its approval and about typical situations, see our help article on the approval workflow.