What is Approval Agent?
Approval Agent is an AI-powered assistant that helps Approvers review Bills by analysing the supplier's approved billing history and highlighting anything unusual.
When you open a Bill, Approval Agent compares it with the supplier's previous approved Bills and explains any issues it identifies.
Approval Agent supports your review by highlighting unusual billing patterns, but it never automatically approves or rejects Bills. The final approval decision always remains with the Approver.
Availability
Approval Agent is included in Advanced and Premium subscription plans for Organisations connected to Xero or QuickBooks Online.
Approval Agent works only with Bills. Other request types are not supported.
Setting up Approval Agent
To start using Approval Agent, you need to:
Turn on Approval Agent for the Organisation. An Administrator or Workflow Manager can enable it from the Organisation settings and connection page. Here you can also adjust the thresholds that determine when differences are flagged.
Manage access to Approval Agent. Only Administrators and Auditors automatically have access to Approval Agent. For all other roles, the Account Owner or an Administrator need to grant access on the Users page.
Turn on Approval Agent for the Organisation
To get started, an Administrator or Workflow Manager needs to turn on Approval Agent for the Organisation. Other roles don’t see or manage these settings.
Go to Workflows and settings > Organisation settings and connection.
In the Agents section, find the Approval Agent card and click Enable.
Once enabled, Approval Agent starts analysing Bills that are awaiting approval or in review.
Turn off Approval Agent for the Organisation
An Administrator or Workflow Manager can turn off Approval Agent for the Organisation at any time.
On the Approval Agent card:
Click the Three-dot icon and select Disable Approval Agent.
In the pop-up, select a reason for turning Approval Agent off.
Add a description explaining why you’re disabling Approval Agent and include any relevant details.
Click Disable.
Once Approval Agent is turned off:
Approval Agent is no longer shown on Bills, including Bills it has already analysed.
The Approval Agent column is removed from the Users page.
Your threshold settings and user access settings are saved. If you turn Approval Agent on again, they will be restored.
Manage access to Approval Agent
Turning on Approval Agent for the Organisation doesn’t automatically give all users access. Only Administrators and Auditors receive automatic access, while access for other roles is managed individually. Only people with access see Approval Agent on Bills.
Once Approval Agent is turned on, the Account owner or an Administrator can manage who has access in two ways:
Go to Workflows and settings > Users.
Or, on the Approval Agent card, click the three-dot icon and select User access management. This takes you directly to the Users page.
On the Users page, the Approval Agent column shows who currently has access. To change access:
For one person, select or clear the checkbox in the Approval Agent column.
For several people, select them in the list, click Approval Agent in the toolbar and choose Enable to selected users or Disable to selected users.
Please note: Only the Account owner and Administrators can change Approval Agent access. Workflow Managers can open the Users page and see the Approval Agent column, but can’t make changes.
Please note: If someone’s role changes, their Approval Agent access is reset. For example, if a User becomes a Workflow Manager, you’ll need to select the Approval Agent checkbox again to restore their access.
Configure Approval Agent thresholds
Approval Agent uses thresholds to determine when differences in Bill amounts or supplier spending should be flagged. Administrators can adjust these thresholds to reflect what your Organisation considers unusual.
To configure the Approval Agent thresholds:
On the Approval Agent card, click Settings.
In the pop-up, the settings are split into two sections. Each one has the same three fields, and each section works independently.
Section | What it compares | When it’s useful |
Amount | The amount of the Bill being reviewed with the supplier’s last approved Bill | When a supplier usually bills a fixed amount, or there’s a limited billing history to compare against |
Period spend | The supplier’s projected spend for the current period, including the Bill being reviewed, with their typical spend per period | When a recurring supplier’s Bill amounts vary and the overall spend for the period is more meaningful than a single Bill |
Each section has three settings:
Check required threshold: The percentage difference above which Approval Agent raises a minor concern.
Review required threshold: The higher percentage difference above which Approval Agent raises a significant concern.
Difference floor: The minimum monetary difference that can be flagged. Differences below this amount aren’t flagged, regardless of the percentage difference.
As you change the thresholds, the Example Bills section shows how the new settings would affect different Bills.
Once you’ve set your thresholds, click Save to apply your changes.
Please note: Threshold settings apply to the whole Organisation and can’t be configured separately for individual suppliers.
Default threshold values
Approval Agent uses the following thresholds by default:
Section | Check required threshold | Review required threshold | Difference floor |
Amount | 0% | 5% | 0 |
Period spend | 5% | 40% | 0 |
You can restore these values at any time by clicking Set all to default in Approval Agent settings.
How Approval Agent applies thresholds
When Approval Agent compares the Bill being reviewed with the supplier’s billing history, it checks both the Difference floor and the relevant percentage thresholds to determine whether to raise a concern.
Approval Agent applies the thresholds in this order:
If the monetary difference is at or below the Difference floor, no concern is raised.
If the difference is above the floor but at or below the Check required threshold, no concern is raised.
If the difference is above the Check required threshold but at or below the Review required threshold, Approval Agent raises a minor concern.
If the difference is above the Review required threshold, Approval Agent raises a significant concern.
A difference must exceed both the Difference floor and the relevant percentage threshold to be flagged. This means the Difference floor can prevent small monetary differences from being flagged even when the percentage difference is relatively high.
Example: The Amount thresholds are set to their default values, with the Difference floor set to 10 GBP.
Supplier | Last approved Bill | Bill being reviewed | Difference | Result |
Aqua Spring Water | £8.00 | £8.40 | +£0.40 (+5%) | No concern. The £0.40 difference is below the £10 floor. |
Northwind Office Supplies | £1,000.00 | £1,040.00 | +£40 (+4%) | Minor concern. The difference is above the floor and Check required threshold, but below the Review required threshold. |
Northwind Office Supplies | £1,000.00 | £1,180.00 | +£180 (+18%) | Significant concern. The difference is above the Review required threshold. |
A Difference floor is particularly useful for avoiding flags on small monetary changes. As seen in the example above, a £0.40 increase on an £8 Bill is a 5% difference, but may not be significant enough to require attention.
What Approvers see when reviewing a Bill
When an Approver opens a Bill that is awaiting approval or in review, the Approval Agent banner appears at the top of the Bill and gives them a quick overview of the analysis.
The banner includes:
An overall status indicating whether the Bill matches the supplier's usual billing patterns.
Check results for each applicable analysis (Amount, Frequency, and Coding).
An AI-generated summary explaining why the Bill received its overall status.
Click Review details to open the complete analysis.
It includes all of the information shown in the summary banner, along with additional details to help you understand why the Bill received its overall status, including:
Approval Agent Summary with the AI-generated explanation.
Billing history, showing the supplier's approved Bills over time.
A Contact overview with key supplier information and billing statistics.
A detailed breakdown of the Amount and Frequency checks.
Line items, highlighting unusual accounts, tax rates, tracking categories, item combinations, or other coding anomalies on individual Bill lines.
A Recent Bills list showing the supplier's approved Bills.
Please note: Approval Agent analyses all approved Bills available for the supplier. However, the Bills displayed in the Recent Bills list depend on your ApprovalMax permissions, so you'll only see Bills you're authorised to access.
How Approval Agent assigns an overall status
Approval Agent analyses each Bill by comparing it with the supplier's approved billing history.
Each applicable check returns one of three results:
No anomalies – nothing unusual was found.
Minor concern: something differs slightly from the supplier's usual billing pattern.
Significant concern – something differs substantially from the supplier's normal billing pattern and warrants further investigation.
Approval Agent combines the results of all applicable checks to determine the overall status displayed at the top of the Bill.
No anomalies: The Bill matches the supplier's established billing pattern.
Check required: One minor concern was identified. Review the highlighted information before approving the Bill.
Review required: A significant concern was identified, and the Bill requires further investigation.
New Contact: This is the first Bill for this supplier, so Approval Agent does not have enough billing history to analyse it. Review the Bill carefully before approving it.
Approval Agent determines the overall status using two rules:
The overall status reflects the highest level of concern found. For example, if any check returns a Significant concern, the Bill gets a Review required status.
If two or more checks return a Minor concern, the overall status is automatically escalated to Review required status, as multiple unusual patterns occurring together may indicate a higher level of risk.
What Approval Agent checks
Approval Agent runs up to 3 checks, depending on the supplier's billing history and billing pattern (see How Approval Agent classifies suppliers below).
Check | What Approval Agent looks for | When it applies |
Amount | Compares the Bill amount with the supplier's historical billing pattern. For fixed-amount suppliers, Approval Agent compares the Bill with the most recent approved Bill, so even a small difference may be flagged. For variable-amount suppliers, it compares the amount with the supplier's historical maximum. It also checks whether the Bill is issued in the supplier's usual currency. A currency change is always treated as a Significant concern, even if there is only one previously approved Bill. | All suppliers with at least one approved Bill |
Frequency | Checks whether more Bills than usual have arrived in the current billing period. One extra Bill is a minor concern. Two or more may mean a duplicate or a billing error. For variable-amount suppliers, it also compares projected spend for the period with the supplier’s typical period spend and flags unusually high spend. | Recurring suppliers only |
Coding | Compares each Bill line with the supplier’s usual coding: items, accounts, tax rates, tracking categories and common combinations of them. Coding differences raise a minor concern. | All suppliers with a sufficient billing history |
Please note: For ad hoc suppliers, the Frequency check may show Insufficient data because there is no consistent billing pattern to compare against.
How Approval Agent classifies suppliers
Approval Agent automatically classifies suppliers based on their approved billing history. These classifications determine which checks can be performed and how the Bill is analysed.
Billing pattern - Approval Agent identifies whether a supplier follows a predictable billing schedule.
Recurring – Bills arrive on a regular schedule, such as weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
Ad hoc – Bills arrive irregularly, with no consistent billing pattern.
Amount type - Approval Agent also classifies suppliers based on the consistency of their Bill amounts.
Fixed – The supplier typically invoices the same or a very similar amount.
Variable – Bill amounts vary from one Bill to the next.
The combination of these classifications (for example, Recurring + Fixed or Ad hoc + Variable) determines which checks Approval Agent performs. Approval Agent only flags unusual activity when there is enough historical data to make a meaningful comparison.
Suppliers with limited billing history
Approval Agent needs approved Bills to identify a supplier’s usual billing patterns. When there’s limited history, the analysis depends on how many approved Bills are available:
Approved Bills | How Approval Agent responds |
0 | The supplier is treated as a New Contact. There’s no previous billing history to analyse, so no checks are performed. |
1–2 | There isn’t enough history to classify the supplier. Approval Agent compares the Bill being reviewed with the last approved Bill using the Amount thresholds and checks the currency. The overall status is at least Check required and can be raised to Review required if a significant difference is found. Frequency is not checked. |
3+ | Approval Agent performs a full analysis and runs all applicable checks. |
Approval Agent data sources
Approval Agent analyses the approved Bill history from your Organisation’s connected accounting system. It does not use any external data sources.
The analysis is based on information such as:
Bill amounts
Billing dates
Currency history
Billing frequency
Year-to-date and current-period spend
Bill line details, including items, accounts, tax rates, and tracking categories
ApprovalMax is GDPR-compliant and ISO 27001 certified. Supplier data remains within your Organisation and is not shared with external parties.
Reviewing a Bill with Approval Agent
Once Approval Agent is turned on for the Organisation and you have access, it appears automatically on Bills that are awaiting approval or in review.
When reviewing a Bill:
Check the overall status in the Approval Agent banner to see whether anything needs your attention.
Click Review details to see the full analysis, including the summary, billing history, contact overview and results of each check.
Review any concerns or unusual patterns highlighted by Approval Agent.
Approve, reject or query the Bill as you normally would.
If Approval Agent doesn’t appear on a Bill, check that:
The request is a Bill from Xero or QuickBooks Online.
The Bill is awaiting approval or in review.
Approval Agent is turned on for the Organisation.
You have access to Approval Agent on the Users page.
A newly submitted Bill may take a short time to be analysed.
Approval Agent limitations
Only Bills are analysed. Other request types are not currently supported.
Available only for Organisations connected to Xero or QuickBooks Online.
A full analysis requires at least 3 approved Bills from the supplier. With fewer approved Bills, the analysis is limited.
Approval Agent analyses only the Organisation’s approved Bill history.
Thresholds apply to the whole Organisation and can’t be configured separately for individual suppliers, and individual checks can’t be turned on or off.
Tips
Keep the following in mind when reviewing Bills with Approval Agent:
Treat a flag as something to review, not necessarily an error. Legitimate changes, such as a price increase or new currency, will still be flagged.
More billing history means a more complete analysis. Approval Agent works best once a supplier has at least 3 approved Bills.
Check currency changes carefully. A currency the supplier hasn’t used before is always flagged as a significant concern.
Pay attention to multiple minor concerns. Two or more minor concerns result in an overall Review required status.
Use the Difference floor to reduce flags on small amounts. If small monetary differences are being flagged too often, increase the Difference floor rather than the percentage thresholds. This prevents small changes on low-value Bills from being flagged while larger differences are still checked closely.
Feedback
For any questions, comments, or feedback, please contact: [email protected]