---
title: "How do bill approvals work in Cleo Pay?"
description: "When a bill's amount falls in one of your approval workflows, it waits as Awaiting Approval until each step is approved, then moves to Awaiting Payment. Bills that match no workflow skip approval, unless you've set vendor invoices to be blocked."
url: https://cleo-pay.com/help/how-bill-approvals-work
category: "Bills and approvals"
audience: [business]
updated: 2026-10-22
support: support@cleo-pay.com
---

# How do bill approvals work in Cleo Pay?

> When a bill's amount falls in one of your approval workflows, it waits as Awaiting Approval until each step is approved, then moves to Awaiting Payment. Bills that match no workflow skip approval, unless you've set vendor invoices to be blocked.

When you add a bill, Cleo Pay checks its amount against your approval workflows. If it falls in a workflow's range, the bill shows as Awaiting Approval until each approval step is done, and then it moves to Awaiting Payment. If no workflow covers that amount, a bill you added goes straight to Awaiting Payment.

## Bill statuses during approval

| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Awaiting Approval | The bill is waiting for one or more people to approve it. It can't be paid yet |
| Awaiting Payment | Approval is done, or the bill didn't need any. It's ready to pay |
| Blocked | A vendor sent you this invoice, no workflow matched its amount, and your account is set to block those. It can't be paid |
| Declined | Someone on your team declined an invoice a vendor sent you |
| Cancelled | Someone on your team cancelled the bill |

Your vendor never sees Awaiting Approval or Blocked. On their side, the invoice shows as Awaiting Payment. For the statuses a bill goes through once you pay it, see [Payment statuses explained](https://cleo-pay.com/help/payment-statuses-explained).

## How a bill moves through a workflow

A workflow is a list of approval steps followed by a payment step. Steps run in order.

1. The bill starts at step 1. Anyone named on that step can approve it. If the step lists several people or roles, one approval from any of them completes the step.
2. Once a step is approved, the bill moves to the next step.
3. When the last approval step is done, the bill changes to Awaiting Payment.
4. Someone allowed by the workflow's payment step pays it. See [How to pay a bill](https://cleo-pay.com/help/pay-a-bill).

Admins can approve any step, even if the step names other people.

To see where a bill is, open it and click the **Activity Log** tab. The approval workflow card lists each step as "Needs approval", "Approved by" with the person's name, or "Needs payment", and says who it's waiting on.

## How to approve a bill

1. Click **Pay** in the sidebar.
2. Filter the list by Awaiting Approval.
3. Open the bill and check the details.
4. Click **Approve**.

To approve several bills at once, select them in the list and click **Approve** in the bar at the bottom of the screen.

If you see "Add categories to ... before approving or paying.", add a category to each line on the bill first. **Approve** stays greyed out until you do.

## Who can approve and who can pay

What someone can do depends on their role. Cleo Pay comes with two roles for bills:

| Role | Approve bills | Pay bills |
|---|---|---|
| Approver | Yes | No |
| Payer | Yes | Yes |

Admins can do both. You can also make your own roles. See [Invite your team and choose roles](https://cleo-pay.com/help/invite-your-team-and-choose-roles).

A workflow can narrow this down further. For example, a step can name one teammate, and then only that person (or an admin) can approve it.

## When no workflow matches

Each workflow covers a range of amounts. A bill whose amount isn't in any range doesn't go through a workflow.

- A bill you add yourself (uploaded, forwarded to your Cleo Pay inbox or typed in) goes straight to Awaiting Payment.
- An invoice a vendor sends you through Cleo Pay follows your Default Invoice Handling setting. "Send directly to payment" puts it in Awaiting Payment. "Mark as blocked" puts it in Blocked. New accounts start on "Send directly to payment".

A blocked bill shows "Blocked" with "Please contact support". Email support@cleo-pay.com with the bill's Cleo ID and we'll help you move it along.

## Approvers added to one bill

An admin can add an extra approver to a single bill, on top of any workflow. The bill can't be paid until that person approves it, and only they can approve their part. Adding one to a bill that's Awaiting Payment moves it back to Awaiting Approval. See [Set up an approval workflow](https://cleo-pay.com/help/set-up-an-approval-workflow).

If the admin chooses to email them, the subject reads "[Your business name]: You've been added as an approver on an invoice to [vendor] for [amount]". Click **Review Invoice** in the email to open the bill.

## When approvals start over

- If you change a bill's amount, Cleo Pay checks it against your workflows again and any approvals so far are cleared.
- On a bill that's Awaiting Payment, someone who can approve can click **Reset Approval**. All approvals are cleared and the bill has to be approved again. You can add a reason.

## Declining or cancelling

You can decline an invoice a vendor sent you through Cleo Pay. The people who can approve bills can decline them too. A bill you added yourself can't be declined, but you can cancel it.

## If something looks wrong

If a bill is stuck in Awaiting Approval or Blocked and you can't tell why, email support@cleo-pay.com with the bill's Cleo ID, its amount and the name of the person who should be approving it.