Automatically Approve Expenses

Your organization may create an unlimited number of rules to automate your expense policy. In addition to creating rules that warn and block employees when they submit expenses, you may create rules that automatically approve qualifying expenses that comply with your expense policy.

Requirements

• Employees must submit expenses before auto-approval rules run.
• Expenses that do not comply with your organization's warning or blocking rules require manual approval.

Automation Criteria

You may automate expense approval based on the following criteria: 

• Employee or group
• Expense type (corporate card or reimbursable)
• Merchant
• Category
• Time period

Use Auto-Approval Rules

1. Select Expense Policies in the Admin left navigation.

2. Select ADD in the Auto Approval section.

   

3. In the Create an Auto-approval Rule dialog, configure the rule criteria.

   

   Use the field reference below to configure the Create an Auto-approval Rule dialog.

   Section	What It Controls	What to Enter or Select	Required	Guidance
   Payment Source	Limits the rule to selected payment methods.	Select one or more: reimbursable, virtual card, physical card.	Yes	Select multiple sources when one rule should apply across payment methods.
   Applicable Users	Defines who the rule applies to.	Select Anyone or a specific scope such as user, department, location, office, or project.	Yes	Start with Anyone for broad coverage, then narrow scope as needed.
   Amount	Applies auto-approval by amount threshold.	Select Any amount or Under. If you select Under, enter the threshold amount.	Yes	Use Under when auto-approval should apply only below a defined amount.
   Merchant	Filters auto-approval by merchant.	Select a merchant value, or enter a merchant name.	No	The dropdown includes default non-vendor options such as Mileage, Taxi, and Parking. For a custom merchant, type the name and select Add [Merchant Name] when the prompt displays.
   Categories	Filters auto-approval by expense category.	Select one or more categories.	No	Leave blank to apply across categories.
   Tags	Filters auto-approval by expense field values.	Select relevant tags.	No	Use tags when auto-approval depends on Expense Fields.

   You can add only one merchant name per approval rule.

4. Select PREVIEW RULE to review the criteria you configured and confirm the rule works as intended.

5. To update the rule, select REVISE. To save the rule, select CREATE RULE.

   

Emburse Spend creates the rule and enforces it based on your configuration.

Edit or Delete a Rule

To edit an existing rule, select the pencil next to the rule.

To delete a rule, select the trash can next to the rule.