Understand review and approval flow

What approval flows can apply to

Depending on your setup, reviews can apply to:

• Card expenses
• Out-of-pocket expenses (reimbursable expenses + mileage claims)
• Invoices (if your company uses invoices in Pleo)

How reviews work in Pleo

In Pleo, reviews can be set up on different “levels”. You can use one level, or combine several:

• Team review (manager approval): A reviewer approves expenses based on team membership (often a team lead)
• Tag review (budget owner/project approval): A reviewer approves expenses based on tags (for example: department, cost centre, project, client)
• Company review (finance approval): Finance admins review expenses at the company level (often as the final step)

Common approval flow models

Model 1: Manager approval (team review)

Best for: Companies that want managers to approve day-to-day spend for their teams.

What it looks like:

1. An employee makes a purchase or submits an out-of-pocket/mileage expense
2. The team reviewer reviews it (approves or requests more details)
3. If approved, the expense continues through your process (for example, it becomes ready for reimbursement and/or ready for export)

Model 2: Budget owner approval (tag review)

Best for: Companies that want approvals to follow budgets, projects, or departments.

What it looks like:

1. The employee adds the correct tag to the expense
2. The expense is assigned to the relevant tag reviewer
3. The tag reviewer reviews it

Tag review is especially helpful when multiple teams work on the same project, or when spend needs approval from someone outside the employee’s reporting line. Read more: How to set up your tags

Model 3: Finance approval (company review)

Best for: Companies that want finance to approve spend centrally for policy and bookkeeping quality.

What it looks like:

1. An employee makes a purchase or submits an out-of-pocket/mileage expense
2. Selected finance admins approve the expense (or request changes)

Model 4: Combined approvals (sequential reviews: team/tag → finance)

Best for: Companies that want manager and/or budget owner context and a final finance check.

What it looks like:

1. Submitted expenses are sent for Team or Tag review first
2. If approved, the expense will progress to Company review (finance)

To enforce the order (so finance doesn’t review before team/tag reviewers), enable Sequential reviews.

How Tag review fits into common approval models

Tag review is typically used when approval should depend on what the spend is for (e.g., a project or department), rather than who spent it.

For example:

• A Project Owner approves spend tagged to their project
• A Department Head approves spend tagged to their cost centre

Unlike team review, Tag review can be a good fit when people spend across multiple teams/projects and approvals need to follow budget ownership.

How Team Review and Tag Review work together (Tag review overrides Team review)

If you use both Team Review and Tag Review, Tag review can override Team review. In practice, that means:

• If an expense is not tagged, it follows Team Review and is sent to the reviewer assigned to the employee’s team
• If an expense is tagged, it follows Tag Review and is sent to the reviewer assigned to that tag (for example, a budget owner)

What happens if something is missing

• If an expense doesn’t have the details needed to approve it, reviewers can request changes and mark the expense as needing details instead of approving it straight away.
• When a reviewer marks the expense as needing details, an instant notification will be sent to the spender in the Pleo app, reminding them to upload the missing details.

How invoices fit into the review setup

If your company uses invoices in Pleo, invoices can follow the same configured review setup (team, tag, and/or company review).

If you want a step-by-step guide specific to invoices, see Paying a supplier invoice

FAQ

Can someone approve their own expenses?

No. Reviewers can’t approve their own expenses.

Where do approvals show up?

Reviewers will see a Review tab in Pleo. In the mobile app, this is shown as the eye icon. Expenses that are due for review will appear in the Review tab.

How are reviewers notified?

When an expense is due for review, reviewers will see it in the Review tab.

To help reviewers stay on top of pending items, Pleo also sends review reminder emails and push notifications to reviewers who have outstanding reviews.

These notifications are sent weekly on Mondays and Thursdays. This is a default setting that can’t be customised.

Can admins override reviews?

Yes. Admins can override reviews by reviewing expenses via Expenses or Export.