Admin
Credit Card Approval Workflows
Credit card approval workflows let you require one or more designated approvers to review card transactions before they are finalized or synced to your accounting or property management system. Use this feature to prevent unauthorized spend, enforce spending policies, and maintain a clear audit trail of who approved each charge.
Getting There
Navigate to Settings → Workflow Settings → Approvals → Transactions to open the Transactions Approval Workflows page.
You must configure at least one approval rule before you can enable any of the account-level settings. The page will display a notice reminding you of this until a rule is saved.
Account-Level Settings
The Settings section at the top of the page contains four toggles that control how the approval workflow behaves across all transactions in your account.
Require Approval
Require all transactions to follow the approval workflow — when enabled, every new card transaction must go through the approval process before it can be finalized. When disabled, transactions can be finalized without any approval.
Email Notifications
Enable email notifications for transaction approval requests — when enabled, approvers receive an email each time a transaction is submitted for their review.
Approvers who prefer a single daily summary instead of one email per transaction can switch to digest emails from their personal notification preferences. Each user can manage this at /user/email_digests/edit under the Decision Required section. This is a per-user preference, not a global setting.
Automatically Request Approval
Require all transactions to follow the approval workflow (auto-submission toggle) — when enabled, transactions are automatically submitted for approval as soon as all required fields are filled in or the transaction is marked complete, based on your account's submission rules. When disabled, someone must manually submit each transaction for approval.
Your submission rules determine exactly when a transaction qualifies for auto-submission. Review or update those rules at Settings → Workflow Settings → Submission Rules.
Sync Blocking Controls
These two settings give you control over whether unapproved transactions can reach your external systems.
Block Accounting Sync
Require all transactions to be approved or rejected before syncing to accounting integrations — when enabled, unapproved transactions are hidden from the accounting sync view by default, preventing accidental syncing before approval is complete. If needed, a team member can still manually reveal and sync individual transactions.
Block PMS Sync
Require all transactions to be approved before syncing work orders to the PMS integration — this is a stricter control. When enabled, work orders cannot sync to your property management system at all until every related transaction split has been approved. Unlike the accounting sync setting, this restriction cannot be bypassed manually.
Enable Block PMS Sync when work order accuracy in your PMS is critical. Because this restriction cannot be overridden, ensure your approval workflow is fully configured before turning it on to avoid blocking legitimate syncs.
Configuring Approval Rules
Approval rules define who must approve a transaction and under what conditions that rule applies. The system evaluates every rule against each incoming transaction and applies all matching rules simultaneously.
Adding a Rule
- Scroll to the Approval Rule section on the page.
- Under Approval Step 1, choose whether approval is required from Everyone or Anyone in the approver group, then select the approvers.
- Optionally expand Optional Conditions to restrict when this rule triggers (see Optional Conditions below).
- To require multiple sequential approval steps within the same rule, select Add another approval step.
- To add a second independent rule, select + Add rule in the next numbered section.
- Select Save when finished.
A rule with no card group condition acts as a catch-all — it applies to transactions from any card, regardless of which group the card belongs to. Use this to create a baseline approval requirement for all transactions, then layer more specific rules on top.
Optional Conditions
Expand Optional Conditions within a rule to limit when that rule triggers. Available conditions include:
- Card group — the rule applies only to transactions made on cards belonging to a specific group.
- Property — the rule applies only to transactions associated with a specific property.
- Dollar amount — the rule applies only when the transaction amount meets a minimum threshold (for example, $80 or more).
You can combine conditions within a single rule. For example, a rule can target transactions from a specific card group that are also $500 or more.
Card groups are organizational labels that associate users and cards by team, department, or region. When a transaction comes in, Topkey checks whether the card belongs to a group matching the rule's condition; if it does, that rule's approval requirements apply.
Multiple Rules
You can create as many rules as your workflow requires. Each rule is evaluated independently — a transaction may match and trigger more than one rule at the same time, and all matching rules must be satisfied before the transaction is considered fully approved.
Approver Group Logic: Everyone vs. Anyone
Each approval step contains one approver group. When you add approvers to a group, you choose one of two modes:
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Everyone | Every person in the group must approve before the workflow advances. This is unanimous approval. |
| Anyone | Only one person in the group needs to approve. As soon as one member approves, the remaining members receive a voided notification letting them know no further action is needed. |
Use Anyone when you have a team of approvers and need flexible coverage across different schedules or time zones.
Auto-Approval for Submitters
If the person who submits a transaction for approval is also listed as a required approver in the workflow, Topkey automatically records their approval. This prevents workflow bottlenecks when a manager both submits and oversees their own transactions.
Available Actions for Approvers
Once a transaction is submitted for approval, designated approvers can take the following actions:
- Approve — marks the approver's decision as approved. Once all required approvals in a step are collected, the workflow advances automatically with no additional action needed.
- Deny — rejects the transaction and cancels the entire approval process. Provide a reason so the cardholder understands what action to take. The cardholder receives an SMS notification when their transaction is denied.
- Cancel — available to the person who submitted the approval request. Withdraws the request while it is still under review and returns the transaction to a pending state. All approvers actively reviewing the transaction are notified of the cancellation.
- Bulk Approve — approves multiple transactions at once. All selected transactions must meet three requirements: they must be at the same step in the approval process, pending approval from the same person, and following the same approval workflow.
Notifications Summary
| Channel | When It Is Sent | Who Receives It |
|---|---|---|
| When a transaction is pending the approver's decision | Designated approvers (configurable via the Email Notifications toggle; individual users can switch to digest emails) | |
| In-app | When a transaction is pending the approver's decision | Designated approvers |
| SMS | When a transaction is denied | The cardholder |
| Voided notification | When one member of an Anyone group approves | The remaining members of that group |
Additional Approval Workflows
In addition to card transactions, Topkey supports approval workflows for two other transaction types. These follow the same rule configuration model described above.
Internal Transfers
You can configure an approval workflow for fund transfers between accounts. When enabled, any transfer must be reviewed and approved by designated approvers before it is executed. Navigate to Settings → Workflow Settings → Approvals → Transfers to configure transfer approval rules.
Owner Payment Requests
You can require approval before owner distributions are sent. When enabled, owner payment requests must go through a designated approval process before funds are released. Navigate to Settings → Workflow Settings → Approvals → Owner Payment Requests to configure these rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if no approval rules match a transaction? If a transaction does not match any configured rule, no approval is required for that transaction — even if the Require Approval toggle is enabled. Make sure your rules cover all transaction types you want to control. Adding a rule with no card group condition creates a catch-all that matches every transaction.
Can I require approval only for large purchases and let small purchases through automatically? Yes. Set a dollar amount threshold in the Optional Conditions section of your rule. For example, configure the rule to trigger only for transactions of $100 or more. Transactions below that amount will not enter the approval workflow, even if Require Approval is enabled.
What is the difference between Block Accounting Sync and Block PMS Sync? Block Accounting Sync hides unapproved transactions from the accounting sync view but allows team members to manually override this and sync individual transactions if necessary. Block PMS Sync is a hard restriction — work orders cannot sync to the PMS until all related transaction splits are approved, and this cannot be bypassed manually. Use Block PMS Sync when you need to guarantee that no unapproved transaction data reaches your property management system.
Questions about configuring approval workflows? Contact Support.