How to Approve and Release Payments

To ensure internal control and accountability, LiquidTrust requires that a payment be both Approved and Released before the funds are transferred to the Payee. Your ability to perform these steps depends on your user role:

• Admins can perform both steps simultaneously.
• Managers can only Approve a payment, requiring a separate Release step by an Admin.

Using User Roles for Internal Control

This separation of duties allows organizations to implement an internal control where one team member (e.g., a Manager) can approve an invoice, and another (e.g., an Admin) can then release the payment. You can further customize who can approve payments by setting up specific Approval Flows.

Find out more about User Roles.

On your Simple Pay page, payment statuses clearly show which step is needed:

• To Approve: The payment needs review by a Manager or Admin.
• To Release: The payment has been Approved and is awaiting final Transfer by an Admin.

Step-by-Step Instructions: Admins (Approve and Release)

Admins can Approve and Release a payment in a single step, regardless of the current status (To Approve or To Release).

1. Select the item you wish to pay. It can be in either "To Approve" or "To Release" status.
2. Click Review to open the payment details.
3. Click the Approve and Release button.
4. Click Confirm to complete this process.

The green success screen will appear notifying you the payment has been sent. At this point, it is now Approved and Released, and the funds will be withdrawn from your account.

Step-by-Step Instructions: Manager Approval (Step 1 of 2)

If a Manager needs to Approve the payment before it is Released by an Admin, the process will be two distinct steps.

Step 1: Manager Approval

1. Select the payment you wish to Approve.
2. Click the action button reading Review (Payments you do not have permission to act on will not have an action button available).
3. After confirming all the details are correct, click Approve.
4. Select Confirm to complete approving the payment.

The payment status will change from To Approve to To Release.

Step 2: Admin Payment Release

After a payment has been Approved, an Admin user must Release it to move the funds to the Payee Wallet.

1. Admins who are able to Release the payment will be notified by email, or they can find the payment on the Simple Pay page in the status "To Release."
2. Click through the Review and Release button in the email, or click Review from the Simple Pay page.
3. In the details view, click Release Payment.
4. A confirmation window will appear. Click Confirm to release the payment.

Upon successful release, you will see a green confirmation message: "Your Transfer is scheduled." The payment status will then update to In Progress.

Why This Matters

Separating the Approval and Release steps is a best practice for internal financial control. This ensures that one person confirms the legitimacy of the payment (the Manager) and another verifies the readiness for fund movement (the Admin), protecting your business from errors and unauthorized transactions.