Approving an expense claim should take a few seconds. In practice, the manager receives a spreadsheet, hunts for the receipts in a separate attachment, wonders which project a given lunch belongs to, then approves “so as not to hold things up”. Above a certain amount, internal policy says a second pair of eyes is needed, but nothing enforces it: it all relies on people remembering.

Then comes accounting, which goes back over every line to assign an account and an analytical axis. The process costs time twice, and leaves no usable trail.

The panel above shows an AlibeeZ approval chain with a €300 threshold. The claim (4 lines, €490.50, receipts attached) was entered by the employee, then approved by their manager, M. Caron, on 2 April. Because it is above the threshold, a second approver from management control is required: that is the current step. The accounting export comes next, with ledger codes already applied at entry. Here is how the chain is built and what it changes.

What the manager sees when approving

How fast approval goes depends first on what the approver is shown. In AlibeeZ, the manager sees the line, the receipt and the project together. There is nothing to piece back together: the expense was entered with its category, currency, project, cost centre and attachment (we cover that step in expense entry in AlibeeZ).

The real questions can be answered at a glance: does the expense fit the engagement, does the receipt match the amount, is it on the right project? Below the threshold, the manager decides in seconds. A refusal comes with its reason and goes back to the requester with the comment: the employee knows what to fix, with no email back-and-forth.

The right approver, triggered by the amount

The heart of the chain is the rule that decides who has to approve. The most common one is the one on the panel: a default approver, plus a mandatory second approver above a threshold. An €80 claim goes through the manager alone; a €490.50 claim with a €300 threshold also goes through management control. Nobody has to remember: the step adds itself.

Amount is not the only possible dimension. In AlibeeZ, expense approval can be configured:

  • by amount, with the threshold you set;
  • by expense category, for example so a sensitive category follows a stricter chain;
  • by cost centre, so each budget is approved by its owner.

More broadly, an AlibeeZ chain is set by role, amount, entity or project type, over one or several levels. As long as it stays within those dimensions, it is configuration, not development. The chain is yours: we start from your internal policy, not from an imposed template.

A chain that keeps running when someone is away

An approval chain is more than a series of clicks. What holds up expense claims in real life is rarely the rules: it is absences and things slipping through the cracks. AlibeeZ handles both:

  • Automatic delegation while the approver is on leave: the claim does not sit waiting for two weeks.
  • A chase after a few days without an answer, on the delay you set.
  • Notifications to the right person at each step.

Every step recorded

The panel’s note says it in one sentence: every step is recorded, who approved, when, and on what amount. That traceability has three very practical uses.

For internal control, it proves the second-approver rule was applied on every claim it concerned, with no manual audit. For the employee, it makes the claim’s processing status visible in real time, from submission to reimbursement. And for rebilling, it guarantees that what goes to the client is an approved expense, with a history you can retrieve if the client asks.

The amounts themselves stay stable: for a foreign-currency expense, rates are historised, so a conversion redone later cannot change an amount that has already been approved.

The accounting export, with no rework

Once approved, the claim goes to accounting. The difference from a traditional process is that ledger codes were applied at entry. The export does not need reworking line by line: accounting receives a file it can use as is.

The format and connector depend on your accounting software: the connectors page lists the tools covered. On the treasury side, AlibeeZ produces SEPA transfer files for expense reimbursements, which closes the loop all the way to paying the employee.

What approval changes

A well-built expense chain shortens the close, because accounting has no rework left to do. It makes control reliable, because the threshold rule applies itself. And it feeds the margin: in AlibeeZ, committed expenses enter the project margin the moment they are approved, alongside consumed time. The profitability shown is the real one, before the month closes.

To go further, see how an approved expense flagged as rebillable reaches the client invoice on its own in expense rebilling in AlibeeZ. And if your chain needs a dimension your current tools cannot handle, our article on configuration versus custom development helps you sort out what is what.

Frequently asked questions

Who approves an expense claim in AlibeeZ?

The chain is yours. The most common rule is a default approver plus a mandatory second approver above a threshold, but approval can also depend on the expense category or the cost centre.

What happens when the approver is on leave?

Delegation is automatic during their leave, and a chase goes out after a few days without an answer. The claim does not sit blocked until they are back.

How do expenses reach accounting?

Through an export that already carries the ledger codes captured upstream, so there is no rework. The format and connector depend on your software; the connectors page lists the tools covered.

Can we see who approved an expense?

Yes. Every step of the chain is recorded: who approved, when and on what amount. When a claim is refused, the reason goes back to the requester with the comment.