Repeatedly chasing employees is usually a workflow problem, not a reminder problem. If finance must search inboxes, identify the right approver and write a fresh message every time an invoice waits, the process depends on persistence rather than control.
The answer is not to send more emails. It is to make approval responsibility obvious, give the approver enough information to decide, define when the decision is due and create a safe route when the usual owner is unavailable. Finance should manage exceptions, not act as the organisation's reminder service.
1. Find out why approvals are really late
Begin with the oldest outstanding invoices and follow each one back to the point where it stopped. Some will have reached the wrong employee. Others will be waiting because the approver cannot identify the purchase, delivery or budget. A few may be disputed, duplicated or missing a purchase order. Those cases need resolution, not a generic reminder.
Group delays by cause for one month. Useful categories include unclear ownership, incomplete evidence, approver absence, disputed supply, incorrect coding, missing purchase order and simple inattention. The pattern shows whether the business needs better data, a clearer policy, a delegation rule or stronger escalation.
2. Make approval ownership predictable
An invoice should not enter the approval queue until the workflow knows who owns the decision. Responsibility can be based on entity, department, cost centre, supplier, purchase order owner, amount or a combination of those fields. Write the rule in plain language before configuring it in software.
Keep the number of approvers proportionate to risk. Adding every stakeholder to every invoice can look cautious, but it spreads responsibility and makes it easier for each person to assume someone else will act. A routine low-value invoice may need one budget owner. A higher-risk purchase may need sequential approval from the budget owner and an authorised senior reviewer.
- Name one current owner. Every waiting invoice should show who must act next.
- Set value thresholds. Increase authority only when the amount or risk justifies it.
- Define exception owners. Missing orders, supplier disputes and coding questions should follow a known route.
- Keep payment separate. Approval confirms the liability; it should not automatically grant banking authority.
If an invoice repeatedly lands with the wrong person, change the rule rather than relying on finance to forward it manually. The same applies when the organisation restructures or a budget changes hands. Ownership data is part of the control environment and needs maintaining.
3. Give approvers a request they can answer
An approval notification should make the decision clear without forcing the employee to search another system. Show the supplier, invoice number, amount, due date, entity, coding, purchase order or receipt evidence, and any exception that needs attention. Keep the source invoice available beside those details.
The approver also needs meaningful actions. Approve, reject and ask for information are clearer than replying to an email with “looks fine”. If a request is rejected, require a brief reason and return it to a named owner. Comments should stay with the invoice so the next reviewer and the audit trail can see the context.
“Please approve this invoice”
The employee must work out what was bought, whether it arrived, which budget it uses and when a response is needed.
One decision with its evidence
The employee can see the invoice, order context, coding, exception status and deadline, then record a controlled answer.
4. Replace ad hoc chasing with timed reminders
Set a service level for approval before deciding how reminders should work. A routine request might be due within one or two working days, while an exception may have a longer target. Align the deadline with supplier terms and the payment run so an invoice does not become urgent only after the approval target has already passed.
Use a small number of purposeful messages. Send a prompt before the deadline, an overdue reminder when it passes and an escalation after an agreed tolerance. Each message should identify the invoice, amount, due date, required action and direct route to the decision. A daily list of every open invoice quickly becomes background noise.
Escalation should transfer visibility, not quietly transfer authority. A manager can be told that work is overdue without receiving permission to approve it. If the manager is expected to act, that authority must be defined in the approval policy and system access.
A good reminder sequence is finite. If the same invoice reaches the final escalation without a decision, it should appear as an operational exception with an accountable owner rather than generating messages forever.
5. Plan for holidays, sickness and changing roles
Many approval queues stall because the named employee is away and nobody knows who may cover. Ask approvers to record planned absence and nominate an authorised delegate for a defined period. The substitute should inherit only the approvals they are permitted to make, and the audit trail should show who acted under delegation.
Unplanned absence needs a controlled fallback. Finance or an administrator may activate a pre-approved substitute, but the change should be dated, visible and reversible. Shared passwords and informal approval through forwarded email remove accountability and should not be used as absence cover.
Review approval ownership when an employee changes department or leaves. Removing application access is not enough if open invoices still point to the old account. Reassign outstanding work and update the routing rule at the same time.
6. Let visibility do more work than inbox pressure
A simple approval view should show each employee what is waiting, what is due soon and what is overdue. Finance needs a wider view across entities and departments, including ageing, value, current owner and exception reason. That makes it possible to focus on the few invoices creating payment or reporting risk.
Share a small set of measures with department leaders. Approval time, overdue value, first-pass rejection and invoices waiting without an owner are more useful than the number of emails finance sent. Trends should lead to a change in routing, training or policy, not public blame for one difficult invoice.
Keep supplier communication aligned with this view. If an invoice is still awaiting internal approval, AP should be able to see that status and respond accurately. The supplier should not need to contact several employees to find out where the document went.
7. Change the behaviour around approval
Technology can deliver a clear request, but leaders still need to treat approval as part of the employee's role. Explain what approval confirms: that the goods or service were received, the amount is reasonable, the coding is appropriate and the purchase is authorised. Employees are more likely to act when the responsibility is specific.
Make the compliant route the easiest route. Approvers should be able to review evidence and act quickly from a consistent screen. Avoid asking for approval in one channel, questions in another and invoice status in a third. When the process is simple, repeated failure to act becomes a management issue rather than a usability problem.
Review the workflow after a full payment cycle. Remove unnecessary reviewers, correct recurring ownership errors and examine every final escalation. The objective is not instant approval. It is a timely, informed decision with evidence that finance can rely on.
Using ArrowBill to keep approvals moving
ArrowBill brings invoice capture, exception checks and approval responsibility into one controlled workflow. Invoices can be dragged and dropped, scanned from a printer or forwarded to a custom email address. The system extracts invoice data, checks for issues such as possible duplicates and unknown suppliers, and keeps the source document beside the decision.
On Team, approval rules route each invoice to the appropriate employee and controlled access lets staff contribute without unrestricted finance permissions. People can be authorised to view different entity dashboards according to their responsibilities, while the head office administrator retains central oversight.
Built-in delegation records when an approver is on holiday, off sick or otherwise unavailable and routes work to an authorised colleague for the selected period. Finance can see what is waiting and where cover is missing instead of discovering the absence after an invoice becomes overdue.
Team starts at £70 and includes approval workflows, role-based access, the procurement module and 20 user seats. Solo starts at £45 per month for 100 invoices for invoice OCR and accounting export without approvals or procurement. Compare current allowances on ArrowBill's pricing page.
Turn the route into a visible flowchart
Map owners, reminders, delegation, escalation and exception paths in the free accounting and finance flowchart builder. It is a stand-alone planning tool, not a dashboard invoice test or compliance-framework assessment, and it requires no sign-in or paid plan.
Frequently asked questions
Why do employees delay invoice approvals?
Approvals are often delayed because the request lacks context, the wrong person receives it, the approver cannot see the deadline or there is no cover during absence. Repeated reminders do not solve those underlying workflow problems.
How long should an invoice approval take?
Set a target that reflects invoice risk and payment terms. Many routine invoices can be reviewed within one or two working days, while complex exceptions may need longer. The important control is a visible deadline with a defined owner and escalation route.
How often should accounts payable send approval reminders?
Use one reminder before the deadline, another when the request becomes overdue and an escalation after an agreed tolerance. Sending frequent generic messages can train employees to ignore them, so every reminder should identify the invoice, required action and consequence of delay.
What should happen when an invoice approver is away?
The approver should nominate an authorised delegate for a defined period, or the workflow should route requests to an approved substitute. Delegation must be dated, visible and limited to the authority the substitute is permitted to exercise.
Can AP automation stop manual approval chasing?
It can remove much of it by routing invoices to the correct owner, sending timed reminders, exposing overdue work and applying delegation or escalation rules. Finance still needs to resolve unclear ownership, policy exceptions and persistent non-compliance. Use ArrowBill's AP automation ROI calculator to estimate the time and cost your organisation could recover by reducing manual approval chasing.
Published guide
Published guide
Published guide