Approving and Releasing Payments

Before money can be moved, we require that a payment be both Approved and Released. Admins can do both in a single step. Managers on an account can Approve a payment, but only an Admin can Release such payments.

NOTE: We recently sent a communication about the Approval and Release steps being separate steps for everyone. This will now no longer be the case as of 5/20/2025.

Using Roles

This update introduces user Roles within the platform:

Admin: Users with the Admin role have the ability to Approve and Release payments, as a single step.
Manager: Users with the Manager role can only Approve payments but cannot release them. An Admin on their business will need to Release the payment separately.

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.

The statuses for Approval and Release are shown on a payment.

On your Direct Payments page, you'll now see two distinct payment statuses, "To Approve" and "To Release".

For Admins

Admins can Approve and Release a payment at the same time.

To approve and release a payment:

Select the item you wish to pay. It can be in either "To Approve" or "To Release" status.

Click Review to to open the payment details.

Click the Approve and Release button.

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 At this point, it is now Approved and Released, and the funds will be withdrawn from your account.

With Manager Approvals

If a Manager on a business needs to Approve the payment before it is Released by an Admin, the process will be 2 distinct steps.

Step 1: Manager Approval

Once you have selected the payment you wish to approve, you'll be able to mark it as Approved. Only Managers will have a distinct Approval step.

Payments that you are able to act on will have an action button reading Review. Payments that you do not have permission on to take the next step will not have an action button available to you.

After confirming all the details are correct, click Approve.

Select Confirm to complete approving the payment.

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. Admins who are able to Release the payment will be notified by email:

Click through the Review and Release button in the email. It will take you to the payment directly, or you can find it at the top of your Direct Payments page in the status "To Release."

In the details view, click Release Payment.

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." At this point, your payment has been sent.

The payment status will then update to In Progress. The payee will be notified the payment is on the way once the payment is withdrawn from your account.

Summary:

Invoice payments now require two distinct steps: Approval and Release.
Admins can both Approve and Release payments simultaneously.
Managers can only Approve payments.
The Direct Payments page provides clear visibility into which payments need approval and which need to be released.