A surprising number of organizations have never written down who approves which invoices. In practice payables sends each one to whoever seems most likely to know, which works while the team is small and produces steadily more delay and duplication as it is not. Writing the rule down is usually a morning's work and removes a category of friction permanently.
Start from delegated authority, not from habit
Most organizations already have a delegation of authority, often written for capital spend or contracts, and it usually covers invoices implicitly. Starting there means the invoice rule is consistent with the rest of the organization rather than a parallel system invented by finance, which is both easier to defend and easier to get agreed.
Route by cost center and value, not by supplier
Supplier-based routing feels natural and ages badly, because relationships move between departments and one supplier can serve several. Cost center plus value is stable, matches how budgets are held, and is what an approver can actually reason about, since they are being asked whether their budget should carry this.
Write down the exceptions too
Invoices with no purchase order, invoices for a cost center that no longer exists, invoices for a supplier nobody recognizes. Each needs a named destination. Undocumented exceptions become the queue everybody hopes somebody else is watching, and they are where the genuinely worrying items hide.
Questions people ask about invoice approvals
Should the person who received the goods approve the invoice?
They are usually well placed to confirm the goods arrived, which is a different act from authorising the spend. Many organizations separate the two deliberately.
Can approval be skipped for matched invoices?
Where a clean three-way match within tolerance is treated as sufficient authorization, yes. It should be a written policy, not an accident of configuration.
How do we handle recurring invoices?
Approve the arrangement once and then match against it, rather than approving an identical invoice every month. Review the arrangement periodically instead.