Cost Object Approval lets you create a specialized, more detailed workflow step for accounting-related data.
The key benefits of using the cost object approval feature include:
- Budget ownership: The approval process targets the specific budget affected. For example, each impacted cost center can review the entire report and choose to approve, partially approve, or reject the portion assigned to its budget.
- Parallel processing: All affected cost centers review the expense report simultaneously, saving significant time and enabling faster employee reimbursement.
If any approver makes changes, the expense report re-enters the approval process. This ensures that all approvers can review any updates, providing control, compliance, and visibility for every impacted cost center.
Levels, Limits and Direct Approvals
A cost object approval step can be based on any of the following:
- Level: This type of approval is defined by each approver's sequential position in the approval process. The cost object moves from one level to the next to the next, all the way to the end of the process. For example, it moves from a junior manager to a senior manager to the company CFO.
- Limit: This type of approval is based on the amount that an approver is authorized to approve (also known as signing authority). The cost object starts with the first approver, moving from one level to the next. It stops when it reaches an approver who has an approval limit equal to or greater than the cost object amount. Note that a limit must be defined for the approver to allow them this functionality.
- Cost Object Direct Approval: This is a second limit-related option. Using this option, the cost object might not start at the first approver and might not go to the end. Instead, it goes directly to the approver with the correct approval limit. In other words, the cost object's first and only stop is with the approver who has the correct limit.
