Xero is designed to simplify accounting for small businesses. 

However, as your business grows, you need more control over your finances, and the basic "approvals awaiting" dashboard doesn’t suffice. 

For instance, if you need invoices over AED 5000 reviewed by both a department manager and a finance manager, Xero doesn't allow such granular rules. 

You will have to manually notify each stakeholder, and even then, communication will happen via email or Slack. 

This means that despite having everything in Xero, the approval process will be scattered across different platforms. 

Hence, in this blog post, we'll show you how to automate approval workflow in Xero.

What Is Automated Approval Workflow?

Automating approval workflows means creating an approval path that automatically notifies relevant people when a certain condition is met so they can review the invoices and expenses. 

For instance, if you want the team lead and department manager to review each expense over AED 2000, Xero would require manual notifications or constant monitoring of the dashboard. Any discrepancies would have to be communicated separately via email or Slack.

With an automation tool, each expense hitting the predefined amount triggers an automatic notification via email or app. Any comments or discussions happen directly within the application, providing complete visibility over the approval process.

This results in: 

• Eliminating back-and-forth between emails, Slack, and Xero
• Streamlining the approval process with all information in one place
• Simplifying reviews and approvals with complete documentation and audit logs
• Synchronizing automatically with Xero to close books 10X faster

How to Automate Approval Workflow in Xero Effectively

If you want granular controls over approvals or want to create complex, multi-layer workflows, you will need a dedicated Xero integration. 

While there are many approval-related add-ons for Xero, investing in an end-to-end spend management solution centralizes everything. Because despite offering advanced workflows, dedicated tools fall short in creating a collaborative approval environment, leaving teams to juggle multiple apps. 

Using Pluto and Xero has helped us sync all kinds of transactions in no time. With the no-code Xero integration included in our Pluto account, we’ve managed to automate mundane work to close books faster.

~ Saqib Iqbal, UAE Tax Expert SA Consultants

Here is what an automated approval workflow for Xero looks like:

Approval Workflows

Pluto offers a no-code approval workflow builder for creating multi-layer, trigger-based workflows with simple if-then rules. You can set up multiple workflows for different expenses and departments. 

For example, you can set a limit of AED 3000 for marketing expenses and AED 5000 for sales expenses to bypass initial approval but require department head review beyond that.

Additionally, Pluto allows you to create custom forms for purchase requests, which also use trigger-based workflows for approvals. You can bring together as many departments as you want — legal, procurement, finance, etc., to enable a streamlined approval process.

So, whether for reimbursements, credit card payments, travel expenses, petty cash, purchase requests, or payables, Pluto lets you design as many workflows as needed without requiring technical expertise. 

Invoice Capture

Once your workflows are in place, Pluto offers multiple ways to bring invoices and receipts into the system. You can forward invoices via email, bulk upload files, or use drag-and-drop functionality directly into Pluto. 

Employees can also submit other types of expenses through the Pluto web app, mobile app, or even by uploading a photo of the receipt via WhatsApp.

• For bill payments, Pluto uses optical character recognition (OCR) to capture key details such as line items, general ledger codes, and tax information from the invoices. This data is then automatically entered and categorized, eliminating the need for manual data entry in Xero and saving you significant time. Once the invoice is recorded, it is sent for approval based on predefined workflows. After approval, it moves to the payment stage, ensuring the entire process—from invoice capture to payment—is streamlined.
• For corporate card transactions, Pluto records the details of each transaction as they occur. Employees are prompted to upload receipts and additional information to match each transaction. Once everything is submitted, the transaction is sent for approval before being finalized.
• For reimbursements, employees simply upload receipts and add relevant information. The expenses are then submitted for approval and, once approved, are ready for payment, ensuring a seamless reimbursement process.

In all cases, Pluto triggers automated approval workflows and notifies stakeholders when their action is needed. Conversations about approvals are documented within the platform, ensuring full visibility throughout the process. This approach eliminates manual reminders, email-based approvals, and the need to switch between multiple apps, making the approval and payment process smoother and more efficient.

Audit Log

Pluto records every action, approval, and payment, creating a detailed trail that’s easy to review and helps the finance team reconcile expenses. Once reconciled, you can lock these transactions to avoid any changes and be audit-ready. 

You can store these logs for up to 5 years, ensuring a reliable record of all your financial activities. You can also bulk download all audit logs and supporting documents with just one click, facilitating the audit process. 

No more manual searching and gathering individual records!

Read More: How to be accounts payable audit ready

Real-Time Xero Sync

Pluto has a bidirectional sync to Xero that ensures that your financial records are always accurate and up to date, eliminating the tedious tasks of CSV exports, imports, and manual reconciliations.

It pulls general ledger codes, tax codes, and vendors from Xero, speeding up and improving the accuracy of invoice capture for easier review by approvers. And once the payment is made, Pluto brings all these reconciled transactions to Xero, reducing the manual data entry to zero.

Complete Visibility With a Centralized Dashboard 

Pluto consolidates all information into a centralized dashboard—reimbursement requests, pending approvals, workflow statuses, transactions awaiting payment, and more.

This helps your teams stay on top of their finances:

• Employees — No more running from manager to manager. They can upload documents and raise purchase requests on one unified platform with full visibility into approval status. 
• Managers — No more app-switching for context or back-and-forth for details. They can access all necessary information on one platform, speeding up the approval process. 
• Finance teams — No more manual follow-ups for approvals or compliance checks. They can pay on time with confidence and maintain strong vendor relationships.
• Accounting teams — No more manual invoice entry or record-keeping. They can close books 10X faster with complete information and an audit log on a single platform.  

Make Approvals Hassle-Free   

Automating approval workflows isn’t just about creating complex multi-layer workflows or setting conditional approval processes. It’s about simplifying the process and consolidating everything onto a single platform that syncs seamlessly with Xero. 

Pluto aims to simplify approvals for each stakeholder—employees, managers, finance teams, and accounting teams. This process speeds up approvals, increases accuracy and transparency, and reduces policy overrides. 

To find the best Xero approval workflow automation solution, check our list of top spend management tools.