Standing approvals

A standing approval lets you approve a repeating bill, such as rent or software, once, instead of being asked every month.

How it works

Xero can create the same bill again and again from a repeating template. A standing approval goes through your Bills workflow once, at the total it commits to. After that, each bill the template creates is approved against it, as long as it matches:

• the same supplier
• the same amount, within a small allowance (1% by default, to allow for rounding)
• before the standing approval ends

Anything different goes to a person, with the difference stated. A standing approval always ends on a date. If the template is changed in Xero, the standing approval is suspended until the new terms are approved. Administrators are alerted when one is about to end, is suspended, or when a bill does not match.

Ask for one

You need to be an administrator.

1. Open your organisation, then Repeating bills.
2. Find the template. If none appears, set one up in Xero (Bills to pay, then Repeating). It appears the next day.
3. Choose Valid for: how many months it should last. Pick a shorter time if you prefer.
4. Choose Ask for a standing approval.
5. The request goes through the workflow like any bill. When it is approved, you see its reference, the dates it is valid, its review date and how many bills it has covered.

The screen recommends that Xero saves the new bills as Awaiting approval. If Xero saves them as approved, WorkApproved can only check each one afterwards.

WorkApproved may also suggest templates that look worth a standing approval. Choose Dismiss this suggestion if you do not want one.

What approvers see

An approver sees one approval for the total. It says that approving it approves every bill the template creates while it is valid, as long as each matches, and that no one is asked about those bills. Read it carefully before approving.

Bills covered by a standing approval show No one was asked: it matched the template, approved beforehand, with the certificate reference.

Change your mind

• Withdraw the request before it is approved.
• End it now to stop it. Later bills go through the workflow again.

Settings

Administrators can change How long a standing approval lasts (months) and How close a bill must be to the approved amount (%) on the Repeating bills page. Changes apply to standing approvals asked for from then on.

Related

• Set up a workflow
• Approve a bill
• What the risk flags mean