A routine company payment can pass without an independent check when one person carries it from request through transfer and reconciliation. A clear workflow separates requesting, approving, executing, and reconciling so each step has a documented basis. The approver assesses whether the expense is necessary and its conditions are met; the executor follows approved instructions; the reconciler compares bank activity with accounting records. This guide covers internal company processes, not changes to bank account signatory authority. All thresholds and examples are fictional illustrations. Adjust them to the company’s authority structure, cash-management practices, and transaction risks. Assign an owner to each step, then test the flow with internal examples.
What information should a payment request include?
A request should let an uninvolved reviewer understand why payment is needed, who receives it, how much is due, when, and who confirmed delivery. Record the requester, department, cost centre, payee’s full name, currency, amount, expected date, purpose, contract or order reference, and budget category. Attach applicable documents, such as an invoice, quotation or contract, and delivery or acceptance evidence. For a missing or inapplicable item, explain why, identify substitute evidence if available, and say when it will be supplied. “Urgent” or “per the contract” alone is not enough to assess the request.
For a first payment to a supplier or a change to payee bank details, attach the information source and reason for the change. Verify it by calling a known company contact using details already on file; do not rely only on an email announcing new account details. Reimbursements should identify the employee, expense date and purpose, and receipt status. Prepayments should state the milestone, expected settlement date, and outstanding items. Store bank details in an approved location with restricted access; keep full account numbers out of group chats and broadly forwarded messages.
Before submission, check amounts against attachments and account for deposits, credits, discounts, or refunds. Show the amount requested now and cumulative amount paid. If a claim totals NT$30,000 and a NT$10,000 deposit has been paid, the remaining base amount is NT$20,000; list freight separately with its basis. For shared costs, state allocation percentages and each department’s owner. For recurring expenses, show the service period and current amount to help spot duplicate claims. Complete information gives the reviewer a verifiable starting point; it is not approval.
How should payment thresholds be tiered?
Do not copy another company’s thresholds or an online template: cash resources, purchasing practices, loss tolerance, and manager availability differ. Define who approves ordinary in-budget payments, then set escalation rules by amount, risk, out-of-budget status, and whether the supplier is new. Do not split one purchasing purpose to avoid a threshold. These New Taiwan dollar ranges are fictional examples, not universal or statutory limits.
| Illustrative amount per payment | Assumed approval level | Additional escalation |
|---|---|---|
| Under NT$30,000 | Department manager | New payee requires an additional review |
| NT$30,000 to under NT$100,000 | Department manager plus finance review | Add another manager for an out-of-budget expense |
| NT$100,000 or more | Department manager and responsible officer | A requester with a conflict of interest must recuse themselves |
Review payments for the same supplier, contract, or purpose together over a company-defined period so split orders do not bypass controls. Low-value payments may still need extra review for related parties, out-of-budget expenses, new payees, or changed bank details. For foreign-currency payments, state the conversion basis and date or time used. If several departments can approve, name the final approver.
Before adopting the matrix, have finance and department managers walk through recent payments. Check that each can be assigned a level, that a substitute is available, and that staff know where over-limit requests go. Check approval volume to avoid a single-manager bottleneck or routine-only review of high-risk payments. Name the matrix owner, effective date, and review point. Retain prior versions and approval records, and make the current version easy for requesters, reviewers, and substitutes to find.
What should a reviewer check?
A reviewer should assess the request, not just confirm that every box is filled. Compare the contract or order, invoice, and delivery or acceptance evidence for matching names, items, periods, and amounts. Recalculate unit price multiplied by quantity, discounts, prior payments, and the remaining balance. If figures differ, ask for an explanation and supporting evidence rather than accepting numbers that look close enough.
Confirm that the payee matches the contract party and the bank account is verified. For a first-time payment, temporary account change, or conflicting email instruction, pause and verify through an independently sourced contact channel. Do not call a number found only in a suspicious notice. Record when details were checked, who checked them, and the result; attach evidence to the payment record.
Check budget approval, delivery conditions, duplicate claims or reused attachments, and possible conflicts involving the requester or approver. Identify the field and evidence when something does not match, then request a correction or escalate it. A generic “reviewed” checkbox does not show what was checked.
Keep the approver’s name, time, applicable threshold, result, and conditions. For partial approval, record the payable amount and why the rest was declined. If returned, specify missing items or discrepancies and re-review after correction. Any later change to the payee or amount requires approval under the authority matrix.
Can the payment executor also approve the payment?
The executor should not approve a payment they are responsible for. If one person decides what is payable and releases the funds, the check is not independent. A clearer division is: the requester explains the purpose and attaches evidence; the business manager confirms need and budget; finance checks amounts and conditions; the executor enters the approved instructions; a second authorized person verifies and releases the transfer; and someone who did not operate that payment reconciles it.
An executor may approve another person’s request if they did not procure it, benefit from it, or have another conflict, and they have separate approval and release authority. Bank access alone does not confer approval authority. In a small company, a manager might approve, finance enter the payment, and the responsible officer verify the payee, account ending, amount, and date before release. Keep evidence of both people’s decisions.
If only one person can operate the payment, have someone uninvolved in the request check documents and payment details before release. Record the reviewer, time, and fields checked. After payment, give the bank confirmation to an independent reconciler. “Can I pay this?” alone does not document a meaningful review.
If the responsible officer submits their own request, or everyone authorized to approve is involved, refer it to another authorized person identified in advance. If no independent approver is available, hold non-essential payments and use the established exception process for urgent cases. Review payment access after staff changes and remove access no longer needed.
Who should document urgent exceptions?
Define urgent cases internally. Examples might include a risk of interrupting operations, missing an agreed payment window, or responding to an immediate safety issue. These are illustrations; a requester’s late submission does not automatically qualify. Record the reason, latest viable payment time, practical impact of delay, and missing normal documents. An authorized manager decides whether the criteria are met and may limit or partially approve the payment.
If a second reviewer is available before payment, they should check the payee, amount, and account. If time is too short, obtain explicit approval through a pre-authorized method before executing. For oral approval, record the time, participants, purpose, and amount, then add written confirmation and transaction documents afterward. The executor must not reclassify an ordinary request as urgent, and a later signature does not replace prior approval.
Keep a case reference, requester, payee, currency and amount, reason, risk, approver and approval time, executor and release time, and attachments. For incomplete records, name who must supply what and by when. If an error or unmet condition is found after payment, record who was notified, steps taken, and what remains unresolved.
Finance should compare the exception log with bank records each month and follow up on missing documents, threshold breaches, and repeated justifications. Use preventable exceptions to improve the ordinary process. Even when timing is shortened, log who decided, who acted, and what supported the decision; review recurring exceptions.
How should completed payments be sampled each month?
Work backward from completed payments to the request, approval, release, and accounting entry. Obtain the month’s bank records, payment register, and request files, then use a defined selection method. If there are few transactions, review them all. Otherwise, prioritize large payments, urgent exceptions, new suppliers, changed accounts, split requests, or reused attachments, and add a random sample. Record how the sample was selected so another reviewer can repeat it.
For each sample, compare the request and attachments, approval level and time, actual payee and account, amount and payment date, bank confirmation, accounting category, and reconciliation status. Look for payments made before approval, amount changes after approval, duplicate transfers, misclassified expenses, and account changes without evidence. If something differs, determine whether it is a timing delay or classification issue, then establish the scope and cause. Do not edit a reconciliation sheet to make figures appear to agree.
Record the month, selection method and source, fields checked, findings and evidence, owner, and due date. For a clean sample, note the completion date and scope. Keep issues open until missing documents, accounting corrections, or other decisions are evidenced. Recurring gaps should trigger a review of the form, permissions, or role handoff, followed by a check next month.
Pilot the process using one routine payment and one exception from the next month’s list. Trace each from bank record to request and approval, then turn the forms and matrix into a checklist and confirm it with the people using it. For more information about Chan & Chung, visit Chan & Chung.