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Something peculiar about business delays is that you lose more than just time. Business delays can cost you deals, trust, and growth. So when you're approving payments for business operations, the difference between thriving and struggling often lies in your approval workflow.
Yet, many businesses still rely on outdated approval processes that slow decisions. In this guide, we’ll show you how designing the perfect approval workflow can unlock efficiency and give your business the speed it needs to compete.
In this blog, you’ll learn:
- How to design an approval workflow that fits the unique structure of Nigerian businesses
- The key steps to streamline requests and eliminate manual errors
- Strategies to use for automating, tracking, and optimizing your approval process
What is an Approval Workflow?
An approval workflow is an automated system that grants role-based access privileges. This is so that all outgoing funds are authorized by an approver according to a predefined set of rules. It acts as a blueprint for routing payments requests through the right people, in the right order, with clear criteria at every stage.
Approval workflows help businesses enforce payment policies and reduce the risk of human error. This makes it more transparent.
For Nigerian businesses dealing with multiple financial transactions, approval workflows are essential for keeping operations smooth and fast.
Key Components of an Approval Workflow
An effective approval workflow is a well-defined system built on some key components:
Roles
Every approval workflow involves specific individuals or groups, each with a defined role:
- Requesters — the persons initiating the request (for example, an employee seeking reimbursement or a procurement officer requesting supplier payment).
- Approvers — those responsible for reviewing and either approving or rejecting the request, typically based on set criteria like budget limits or vendor vetting.
- Disburser — the persons or team responsible for releasing funds or executing the approved transaction.
Triggers and Conditions
Conditions are the rules that decide what happens next. For instance, if a purchase is below ₦50,000, it might only require line manager approval, but if it's above ₦500,000, the finance director’s sign-off could be mandatory, as set in a company’s approval workflow.
In addition, approval workflows follow a trigger, typically an action or event that requires a decision. For example:
- A new expense report submission
- A vendor invoice awaiting payment
- A purchase request exceeding a set budget
Approval Levels and Hierarchies
Most Nigerian businesses use multi-level approval systems to enforce accountability. These levels ensure that higher-value or higher-risk decisions are escalated appropriately.
Typical hierarchies might look like:
- Level 1: Departmental Head or Line Manager
- Level 2: Finance or Accounts Department
- Level 3: Executive or C-Level Approval
Common Approval Problems in Nigerian Businesses
Despite the importance of approvals, many Nigerian businesses struggle with recurring workflow problems, such as:
- Manual and Paper-Based Systems — slowing down communication and increasing the chance of lost or misplaced requests.
- Unclear Approval Chains — causing confusion about who the next approver is, especially during staff turnover or role changes.
- Overly Complex Hierarchies — creating unnecessary delays by involving too many people in simple decisions.
- Lack of Automation and Notifications — leading to requests sitting idle for days or weeks without follow-up.
- Poor Documentation and Tracking — making it hard to audit past approvals or investigate discrepancies.
An inefficient system can create:
- Long processing times that slow down operations.
- Poor visibility into who approved what, and when.
- Increased risk of fraud due to lack of audit trails or unclear roles.
- Higher operational costs from manual follow-ups and corrections.
Designing the Perfect Approval Workflow
An approval workflow is the backbone of smooth decision-making in any organization. Designing the perfect workflow means creating a system that is clear, scalable, and tailored to your business needs. This ensures requests move through the right hands without unnecessary delays.
Step 1: Define Clear Approval Policies
To design an effective approval workflow, establish clear approval policies that align with your business goals. These policies should cover key areas like budget thresholds or roles so that all stakeholders know their expectations.
Aligning approval processes with business objectives, such as cost control or timely decision-making, ensures that every decision made fits within the broader strategy. Specify who can approve what, and at what levels, based on factors like department budgets or seniority.
Step 2: Map Out the Ideal Workflow Structure
Once your approval policies are clearly defined, map out the structure of your workflow. Decide whether your business is better suited for a centralized model or decentralized model.
The centralized model is where approvals pass through a single chain of command, while the decentralized model is where departments or teams handle approvals independently.
The right choice may depend on your company’s size and complexity. You’ll also want to decide between sequential and parallel approvals. Sequential flows send requests to one approver at a time, while parallel flows allow multiple reviewers to handle requests simultaneously, speeding up decisions.
In addition, adding conditional logic allows your workflow to automatically adjust routes based on criteria like request type, amount, or department. This makes your approval process smarter and more efficient.
Step 3: Automate
Manual approval processes often lead to delays. Automating your approval workflow can eliminate repetitive tasks, reduce human error, and speed up decision-making.
Automation ensures requests are instantly routed to the right approvers. Reminders are sent without manual follow-up, and every step is recorded. This saves both time and operational costs.
Choosing the right approval software is especially important for Nigerian businesses. Look for solutions like Flex Finance that easily integrate your expense management and accounting systems. You also get customizable approval workflows that can be tailored to your organization's policies and requirements.
Also, Flex Finance provides end-to-end control and visibility for all payment requests, from requester to approver to disburser. This eliminates unexplained spending and reduces approval cycle time by over 40 hours per month.
Step 4: Build Accountability and Transparency
A perfect approval workflow isn’t just about speed, it’s about visibility and trust. Building accountability into your process ensures every action is traceable and every stakeholder knows their responsibility.
Set up automated notifications to keep everyone in the loop. When each user has access only to the requests relevant to their role, you minimize errors and ensure sensitive financial decisions are handled by the right people. Maintain detailed approval logs to prevent unauthorized approvals and spending.
Step 5: Gather Feedback
Gathering feedback from your business’ approval workflow helps you uncover gaps or logic errors before they create costly mistakes. Monitor workflow performance over time to make sure that your process stays efficient as your business evolves.
Next Steps: Start Designing Your Workflow Today
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The best way to take control of your payment approval workflow is to get started with a platform designed specifically for this purpose to give you full control and visibility. Sign up on Flex Finance to reduce approval cycle time by over 40 hours per month.
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