Purchase and expense approvals
How do we route expense and purchase requests to the right approvers by limit and get the approval into the finance system without email?
Put the approval matrix inside the request. An employee submits the expense or the purchase on a prefilled form; Callvu classifies it by type, amount and cost center against the bank's authority matrix, routes it to each approver in sequence in the Decision Desk, checks the budget and the vendor's status where the policy requires, and writes the approval with its chain to the finance or procurement system so payment can run.
In scopeSimpleCallvu moves: decide, write back
Last updated November 7, 2026.
The problem today
The purchase was approved in an email thread, and accounts payable cannot find the second signature.
An employee needs a laptop, a conference, a consultant. They email their manager, who forwards to the department head, who replies 'ok'. The invoice reaches accounts payable with the thread attached, or not. The amount was above the department head's limit. The vendor was never set up. Finance pays, or holds the invoice for a month while it finds the approvals.
Expense and purchase approvals are the most basic internal control, and the one that leaks when it lives in email: limits by role, segregation between requester and approver, a budget check, a vendor on the approved list. Auditors sample them, and the finding is always the same: an approval that cannot be shown.
The matrix exists. It just is not in the path of the request.
How it runs
From the requestto the system of record.
An employee submits an expense claim or a purchase request in the app, on the web, or by email to the process. Callvu identifies the employee and prefills the request.
- Employee
- Submits the request with the receipts or the quote, and sees its status.
- Approvers
- Decide in sequence in the Decision Desk within their authority.
- Callvu
- Prefills, classifies against the matrix, checks budget and vendor status, routes, writes the approval chain to the finance system.
Prefill and classify
The employee, their cost center and manager are prefilled from the HR system; the request type (travel, meals, equipment, software, professional services, a contract), the amount and the vendor are captured with the receipts or the quote read on upload. The authority matrix sets the approver chain for the type, amount and cost center, and the policy rules (per diem limits, pre-approval for travel, competitive quotes above a threshold, the approved vendor list) are applied.
Decide in sequence
Each approver receives the request in the Decision Desk with the details, the policy checks and the budget status, and approves, returns with a question, or declines. An approver cannot approve their own request or one above their limit; the chain continues to the next level by rule. Reminders and escalation keep the chain moving.
Chase and verify the documents
A request missing a receipt, a quote above the competitive-quote threshold without the second quote, or a vendor not on the approved list is returned to the employee with what is needed, or routed to vendor due diligence, before it reaches the next approver. The request shows what is outstanding.
Write back
The approved request with its full chain, the receipts or quote, the policy check results and the budget impact is written to the finance or procurement system (a purchase order, an expense claim ready to pay, a vendor setup request where the vendor is new), and the employee is told.
Where it ends: Every expense and purchase in the finance system carries its approval chain by limit, its policy checks and its documents, and accounts payable pays from the record. The Decision Trace shows the classification and the matrix applied; the Audit Trace shows each approval with the person and the time.
Runtime enforcement
What is enforcedwhile the work runs.
The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.
The handoff
Between the front doorand the back office.
The front door
The app, the web, or an email to the process. The employee submits once and sees the status.
The back office
Approvers decide in the Decision Desk; accounts payable pays from a record that carries the chain.
The Decision Desk
- Each approver in the chain decides in the Decision Desk with the request, the checks and the budget status, with only approve, return with a question, or decline.
Proof
In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.
The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.
More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.
Across Callvu customers
Banca Transilvania automated more than 100 workflows with Callvu.
Bank Leumi digitized all loan application and servicing workflows within six months, and dozens more processes since.
A process can run steps in parallel and continue when all branches, the first branch, or at least N of M branches finish, for example two of three approvals.
CAP-03 · Self-asserted · verified 2026-11-02
Questions
What buyers ask next,answered plainly.
How is the approver chain set?
From the bank's authority matrix by request type, amount and cost center, applied by Callvu. An approver cannot approve their own request or one above their limit.
What if the vendor is new?
The approved vendor list check routes the vendor to due diligence before the purchase proceeds.
What does accounts payable receive?
A purchase order or an expense claim in the finance system with the full approval chain, the documents and the policy checks attached.
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