Introduction
Use the Approval Policy builder to route new card requests and card limit change requests to the right approvers based on conditions like card limit, team, card type, submitter role, and project. It helps you stay efficient and compliant by sending each request to the correct people at the right time
How Approval Rules Work
💡 Watch our product tour here
Managing Rules in the System
Open Policies in your organization settings. You will see a read-only view of the currently published rules.
Click Edit policy to switch to draft mode. Owners and administrators can edit the company-wide approval rules here.
All changes are automatically saved as a draft. Only owners can make the draft effective by clicking Publish.
Rules follow a priority order
Rules run top to bottom. The first rule that matches a request is applied; rules below it are ignored. Keep specific rules at the top and general catch-alls lower in the list.
💡 Note: Every organisation has a Backup rule fixed at the bottom of the list. This rule has no conditions and serves as a catch-all, ensuring that every card request is always covered by at least one rule that determines its approval flow.
Creating an approval rule
Add a rule and give it a clear name.
Set conditions (optional). Conditions define when the rule should trigger. Each condition supports Is and Is not operators — helpful for broad rules that exclude specific cases. Available conditions:
Team (team assigned to the card)
Card type (e.g., single-use, physical, virtual)
Submitter (role of the requester of the card)
Project (project assigned to the card)
Define layers by card-limit thresholds. You choose the ranges (e.g., €0–€100; €100–€1,500; Over €1,500).
Add approval steps per layer. Steps can use roles (Any Owner, Any Admin, Any Accountant, Team Manager of the cardholder) or named individuals
Save for later (draft) or Publish (Owner only).
💡 Note: Under Settings → Accounting, you can set Team and/or Project as mandatory for card issuing. This ensures that every issued card has a Team and/or Project assigned and follows the correct approval flow.
Layers and Approval Steps
Once the scope of a rule is defined using conditions, you can establish approval layers based on Monthly Card Limit Amount thresholds. These layers allow you to set unique approval steps with specific approvers for each range of card limits.
Example Thresholds: Layer 1: €0–€100, Layer 2: €100–€1,500, Layer 3: Over €1,500 card limit.
For each layer, you are able to define unique approval steps with unique approvers. Approvers are responsible for reviewing and approving card requests before they are finalized.
💡Notes:
Layers are always defined in the organization's main currency.
The layer always refers to the limit of the card independent of their renewal frequency (Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly, Total, Single-Use). In case of a Single-Use card, the limit refers to the transaction limit.
Types of Approvers
Approvers can be assigned based on:
Role – Automatically assigns approvers based on their role:
Any Owner
Any Admin
Any Accountant
Team Manager of the cardholder
Named Individuals – Specific people (e.g., "Sarah Johnson").
Approval Policy Settings
For the approval rules you set up, there are supporting settings that help cover edge cases and streamline the approval process.
Settings on Rule Level
These settings help enforce the 4-Eyes Principle, ensuring that no single person can approve a request twice or approve their own request.
Multiple Approvals (On/Off):
This setting ensures that if an approver matches the approval criteria for multiple steps, they can only approve once.
OFF: Require a different approver – The second approval must come from someone else.
ON: Auto-approve the step – The system automatically approves the second step, since approval has already been provided.
Example: Requiring Multiple Approvals
A company requires 2 out of 3 specific people to approve.
Step 1: Any one of Alex, Jamie, or Taylor can approve.
Step 2: A different person must approve the second step. For example, if Alex approves Step 1, then Jamie or Taylor must approve Step 2.
Self-Approval (On/Off):
This setting prevents a person who requests a card for themselves from approving it themselves, even if they’re assigned as an approver.
OFF: Require a different approver – Someone else must approve the request.
ON: Auto-approve the step – The system automatically approves the request, since submitter has the permission to approve his own request
Example: Preventing Self-Approval
A company requires all credit card requests to be approved by a Team Manager, while no Team Manager should be able to directly issue cards to themselves.
If a Team Manager requests a card for themselves, the system prevents them from approving their own request.
The system assigns the request to a different Manager of the team
If the submitter is the only Team Manager, a fallback rule assigns the request to an Admin (see Fallback Approver Settings).
General Approval Settings
Via the setting wheel in the approval page, you can define additional settings that apply to all approval rules
Fallback Approval Logic
If no approver can be determined, the fallback approval logic is assigned. You choose between 3 configurations.
Designated fallback approvers: Select one or more roles or specific members to act as fallback approvers
Auto-Approve: Skip the approval step (treat it as approved) when no approver can be determined
Auto-decline: Automatically reject the request if no approver can be determined
Example: A rule requires Team Manager approval, but the Team has no manager assigned. In this case, the request will be routed using the fallback approval logic.
Universal Approvers
You can assign universal approval rights to any role or individual member within your organisation. This grants super approval privileges, allowing them to approve any card request—even if the relevant policy requires approval by a different member.
💡 Note: These settings help manage exceptions like vacations or urgent requests more efficiently.
Approval of a request
Notifications
When a member is assigned an approval request, they receive both an email and a push notification in the mobile app with a direct link to the request.
In addition, approvers get a weekly summary email listing all outstanding requests awaiting their action.
View and approve card requests
Cardholder application
Navigate to Teams → Card requests to see requests assigned to you.
Opening a request shows its details, including any previous approvers in multi-step flows. From there, you can approve or reject the request.
Admin application
Go to Cards → Card requests to view all open requests across the organisation in one place. Use the Assigned to me quick filter to see only the requests waiting for your approval.
Switch to the Archive tab to review previously approved or rejected requests.
💡 Note: Updating an approval policy does not affect existing approval requests or their assigned approvers. However, if a user’s role changes (e.g. from Admin to Cardholder), they will lose the ability to approve requests that were assigned to their previous role.
Feature availability
The following features are only available to organisations on the Standard and Premium subscription plans:
Condition options Card type, and Project
Multi-step approvals (more than one approval step per layer)
Named approvers (assign individual members as approvers)
Resources to help you get ready
Explore the setup in our interactive product tour