Set up AP supplier invoice approval delegation

You can enable AP supplier invoice approval delegation in Accounts Payable configuration and select delegates, at the top level.

After you enable delegation, approvers can delegate approval tasks when they’re out of office. Intacct automatically routes approval requests to the delegate that you assigned in the configuration.

How delegation works

When an approver activates delegation in their user preferences, Intacct routes new approval requests to their assigned delegate. New requests that are submitted after the delegation period ends are routed to the original approver. Requests submitted during the delegation period remain the responsibility of the delegate.

As an admin, you enable delegation and assign delegates in Accounts Payable Configuration. The Default delegate that you select is automatically assigned to all approvers. You can choose to override the default assignment for specific approvers, as needed.

When selecting a delegate, consider the following:

• Permissions: A delegate must have Approve bills: List permissions.
• Restrictions: A delegate should not be more restricted than the original approver. For example, if a delegate is restricted to entity E100 and they’re assigned to an approver who is restricted E100 and E200, the delegate cannot review incoming approval requests for E200. Either you need to expand the delegate's restrictions or select a different delegate.
• Vendor-based approvers: User groups that act as vendor-based approvers cannot be assigned delegates. You can assign delegates to individual users who act as supplier-based approvers.
• Value-based approvers: Delegation is not supported for value-based approvers. These approvers will receive an warning message when they turn on delegation and save their settings.

If you assign a delegate with permissions or restrictions that conflict with the original approver, the approver receives a warning message when they save their preferences after activating delegation. As the admin, you must correct the conflicts before the delegation period begins, to keep the workflow intact.

Email notification for delegates

When delegation is turned on, Intacct sends the following notifications for each new AP supplier invoice approval request to the delegate:

• Delegate notification: This notifies the delegate that they have been assigned as an approver on behalf of the original approver.
• Approval request notification: This notifies the delegate that a transaction is awaiting their approval and provides transaction details.

Email notifications are sent to delegates only when the following is true:

• Email notifications is enabled in the AP supplier invoice approval settings section of Configure Accounts Payable
• In the delegate's user preferences, under Email notifications and Requests for approval, the user has selected AP supplier invoice

Configure AP supplier invoice approval delegation

1. Go to Accounts Payable > Setup > Configuration at the top level.
2. Under AP supplier invoice approval settings, select Enable delegation.
3. Under Manage delegates, select Manage.
4. Select a Default delegate type of either User or User group.

   The option you select determines your selections in the Default delegate field.

5. Select the Default delegate from the dropdown list.

   To appear in the list, the user or all members of a user group must have Approve AP supplier invoices: List permissions, at minimum. Intacct copies the name of the default delegate to individual approver entries in the table that follows.

6. Review the assigned delegate for each approver in the table and assign individual delegates as necessary.

   Consider the role of the approver and their permissions when evaluating whether to override the delegate settings.

   If the default delegate is the same as the approver, you must select a different delegate.
7. Select Save.
8. Select Save.

Turn off the ability to delegate AP supplier invoice approval

When you turn off approval delegation for your company, the following happens:

• New AP supplier invoice approval submissions are routed to the original approvers, even if the approver is out of office.
• Any AP supplier invoices that were previously routed to a delegate remain in the delegate's approval queue.
• The option to delegate approvals is removed from the My preferences page.

Intacct saves your delegation settings. If you later decide to re-enable approval delegation, your delegation settings are restored.

1. Go to Accounts Payable > Setup > Configuration at the top level.
2. Under AP supplier invoice approval settings, deselect Enable delegation.
3. Select Save.