Payment approvals
Configure who authorizes outgoing payments before execution.
Approval policies control who authorizes payments prepared from Send money or Pay Bills. Rules are selected by source-account currency and the amount to debit.
Configure the policy
Open Pay Bills → Settings. Editing the policy requires access to manage outgoing payments.
Each currency has amount ranges that cover every amount: the first starts at zero, ranges are continuous and do not overlap, the minimum is included, the maximum is excluded, and the last range has no upper bound.
For example, in the selected source currency:
| Amount | Required approval |
|---|---|
| 0 to less than 1,000 | Any administrator |
| 1,000 to less than 10,000 | Department manager, then Finance manager |
| 10,000 and above | Department manager, Controller, then any administrator |
Exactly 1,000 uses the second range; exactly 10,000 uses the third.
To add a range, select the currency, add the range, set the preceding range's maximum, assign at least one approver, review the order, and save. Pharos rejects gaps, overlapping ranges, and steps without an approver.
Choose approvers
Each step can be assigned to an eligible account administrator, a specific member, or the department manager of the person preparing the payment. Approvers must be active and have permission to approve outgoing payments.
Approval order
Steps run in the configured order. The next approver can act after the previous one approves. You can add, remove, or reorder steps while configuring a range, but each range must keep at least one.
Self-approval
- Disabled: the preparer cannot approve their own payment. This is the recommended setting.
- Enabled: the preparer can approve only when eligible for the current step.
With self-approval disabled and no other eligible person, the payment cannot advance until the policy or team configuration is corrected.
Submit for approval
Review recipient, destination account, source account, amount, currencies, date, and purpose or reference. For Pay Bills, also review the document and accounting categorization.
Selecting Submit for approval validates the instruction and assigns the first step. Main payment details cannot be changed during approval. Later policy changes apply to new submissions and do not rewrite an approval in progress.
Approve or reject
The action is available when the payment awaits approval, you are assigned the current step, you have the required permission, and the self-approval rule permits it.
Approve
An intermediate approval records the decision and unlocks the next step without moving money. Final approval requires recent two-factor verification, rechecks payment details and accounts, and starts a payment due today or schedules one for a future date.
If two people decide the same step concurrently, only the first valid decision is accepted.
Reject
Enter a reason. The payment returns to its preparer and retains its history. Correct the information, review it, and submit again using the policy current at that time.
Cancel
Cancel the request before a transaction or scheduled payment is created. Pending actions and notifications become unavailable.
Approval emails
Pharos emails the person eligible to act: the first approver on submission and the next approver after an intermediate decision. For an any-administrator step, eligible administrators are notified.
The email includes bill or reference, recipient, amount, currency, and date. Review payment opens the payment; Pay Bills requests also include the bill context.
| Recipient language | Subject |
|---|---|
| English | Transfer approval required |
| Spanish | Se requiere aprobación de pago |
| Portuguese | Aprovação de transferência necessária |
Delivery retries avoid resending emails already accepted.
Team-configuration alerts
When a department manager cannot be found, Pharos skips the step according to fallback rules and alerts administrators. The alert includes department, reason, and a team-settings link.
| Recipient language | Subject |
|---|---|
| English | Department approval setup needs attention |
| Spanish | La configuración de aprobación requiere atención |
| Portuguese | A configuração de aprovação precisa de atenção |
Separate emails are not sent for approval completion, rejection, scheduling, or payment completion. Check the history and payment status for those results.
After final approval
Payments due today start execution; future payments are scheduled. Temporary problems are retried safely. If execution still cannot complete after several attempts, the payment shows Needs attention.
A person with outgoing-payment management access can review the cause and retry with two-factor verification. If approved details did not change, the full approval need not be repeated. Changes to recipient, accounts, amount, currencies, date, or purpose require resubmission for approval.
Troubleshooting
- Approve is missing: check current-step assignment, approval permission, and self-approval rules.
- No eligible approver: check active membership, approval access, and the preparer's department and manager.
- No email arrived: the assigned person can also find the payment under Needs Approval. Review notification history and the member's email.
- Rejected payment: open the detail, read the reason, correct, and resubmit.
- Needs attention: open the detail in Pay Bills or Outgoing payments, review the cause, and use the available retry action.