Approvals and audit trail
A person approves every invoice, and the record shows why.
Tenet never approves or posts an invoice on its own. An invoice that passes every check is marked Ready to approve; one that doesn’t is held with the reason. Either way a person decides, and the decision, with who made it and why, stays on the invoice.
Every plan, from $30 a month · 14-day trial, no card.
Decisions and overrides
- Ready to approve still means a person
- Passing every check moves an invoice to the approver. Nothing is approved automatically.
- Reasons on overrides
- An approver can approve an invoice that still has open issues, including blocking ones, but only with a written reason. Rejecting needs a reason too.
- Exceptions in one queue
- Each held invoice shows the figures that differ, the reason in plain language and a suggested resolution.
- Approval, then Xero
- Only an approved invoice is posted to Xero, with the original document attached.
Second approver
Match plan and above, from $75 a month- Above an amount you set
- Invoices at or above your limit need two approvals, and the second must come from a different person.
- No guessing on currency
- An invoice in another currency, or whose total couldn’t be read, needs two approvers rather than a converted guess.
Roles
- Admin
- Everything, including the team, rules, company details and Xero settings.
- Approver
- AP work plus approving and rejecting invoices.
- AP specialist
- Uploads documents, corrects what was read and resolves exceptions, but can’t approve.
- Viewer
- Read only. Useful for an external accountant or auditor.
What the record looks like
Illustrative activity for one invoice, the INV-5560 example from 3-way matching. Each entry keeps who, when and why.
| When | Who | What happened | Recorded detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Mar 09:12 | Tenet | Received by email | INV-5560 from Harbour Wholesale, PDF attached |
| 11 Mar 09:13 | Tenet | Checks run | Blocked: 16 billed, 12 accepted and not yet billed |
| 11 Mar 14:05 | Approver | Approved with an open issue | Reason: “Credit note for 4 damaged units agreed by email, 11 Mar” |
| 11 Mar 14:06 | Tenet | Posted to Xero | Draft bill created with the original invoice attached |
In Xero
Six months later, the reason for paying past the block is on the invoice, next to the figures that caused it.
Good to know
- The audit trail is kept on each invoice in Tenet, and the original documents can be downloaded. There is no export of the whole trail as a file yet; ask us if your auditors need one.
- Tenet doesn’t release payments. Pay approved bills from Xero or your bank as you do now.
- The second-approver limit is set per workspace, not per supplier.