Set up vendor approval

Set up vendor approval to require that new and edited vendor records be approved before users can post vendor transactions. Set up vendor approval at the top level, not within an entity.

Vendors automatically created from customer refunds can participate in standard vendor approval workflows. Admins can configure Accounts Payable to skip vendor approvals for vendors created automatically from customer refunds when approval review is not required. Existing vendors linked to customers continue to follow the standard approval workflow.

Before you begin

When you enable vendor approval, Sage Intacct automatically approves all existing vendors, including inactive vendors.

Review the Vendors list before enabling vendor approval and make any necessary changes to vendor records.

The initial audit trail update can take time, depending on the number of vendors. Until processing is complete, users cannot add, edit, delete, or import vendors. Consider enabling vendor approval during off hours.

Enable vendor approval

Subscription Accounts Payable
Regional availability

All regions

User type Business with admin privileges, with no restrictions
Permissions

Approve vendors: List

Access to all vendor records

The user who enables Vendor approvals is recorded as the approver in the audit trail. You can remove the permission after all vendors are updated.
  1. At the top level, go to Accounts Payable > Setup > Configuration.
  2. Under Vendor approval settings, select Enable vendor approval.

    Optionally, If your company processes customer refunds, use Skip vendor approvals for vendors created from customer refunds to automatically approve vendors created from customer refunds instead of routing them through the vendor approval workflow.

  3. To allow users to receive notifications, select Email notifications.

    Users can decide if they want to receive the following by updating their Preferences:

    • Notifications of vendors awaiting approval
    • Notifications when a vendor that they submitted is approved or declined
  4. Select Save.

Sage Intacct updates the audit trail and marks existing vendors as approved. An email notification is sent when the update finishes.

Optional next steps

  1. Assign the Approve vendors: List permission to additional approvers.

    Depending on your company's configuration, update either user-based permissions or role-based permissions.

  2. If you enabled email notifications, ask users to configure their notification preferences.

    • Approvers can receive notifications when vendors are ready for review.

    • Submitters can receive notifications when vendors they submitted are approved or declined.

    • Users configure notification preferences on the Preferences page.

Results

  • New and updated vendors now require approval before they can be used for Accounts Payable or Purchasing transactions.

  • Approvers can review vendors in Accounts Payable > All tab > Approve vendors .

  • Vendor records now include approval status and history information.