Control which bills need review with AP approval workflows
Accounts payable (AP) approval workflows are a new feature that let you route bills for review based on rules you set, so the right people sign off before a bill is exported or paid.
Available inCore
Feature type
New Feature
Industry
All business types
Roles
AdministratorsAccountantsBookkeepersManagers
Region
All regions
What's new
Before, bills moved toward export or payment with the same limited oversight, whether they were routine or high-risk. Now you can build approval workflows in ServiceTitan that check each bill against conditions you define, such as bill total, vendor, or business unit. Bills that do not match any condition are approved automatically and keep moving, while bills that do match are routed to the approver you choose. After a bill is approved, ServiceTitan marks it approved and reconciled in one step, and the bill becomes eligible for export.
Workflow comparison — before & after
← Before
✓ After
1.Enter a bill in Accounts Payable.
1.Go to Settings > Accounting > Bill Approval Workflow, and build a workflow with conditions such as bill total, vendor, or business unit.
2.Reconcile the bill with no required review step.
2.Submit a bill for approval from the bill details screen.
3.Export the bill to your accounting software.
3.ServiceTitan routes matching bills to the assigned approver and approves non-matching bills automatically.
4.Rely on manual checks to catch high-dollar or exception bills.
4.The approver reviews and approves or denies the bill, then approved bills become eligible for export.
⚠ High-risk and exception bills carried the same oversight as routine ones, and there was no built-in way to require a second review before export or payment.
✓ Routine bills keep moving without delay, and higher-risk or exception bills get a required review before any money moves.
How it works for your industry
Residential Service and Replacement
- An office manager routes every bill over 5,000 dollars to the controller for approval before it exports, while smaller supply bills flow through automatically.
- Bills from a new or one-time vendor route to accounting for a second look before payment.
- A bill with no purchase order (PO) attached routes for review so unexpected charges get checked.
Commercial Service and Replacement
- Bills tied to a specific business unit route to that unit's manager for sign-off before export.
- A bill with a pricing or quantity discrepancy routes to accounting so the mismatch is resolved before payment.
- High-dollar rooftop unit (RTU) replacement bills route through a tiered approval based on the bill total.
Residential Construction
- Every bill connected to a project routes to the project manager (PM) assigned to that project for approval.
- Bills above a set threshold route to a controller, while routine material bills approve automatically.
- Bills tied to a specific high-volume vendor route for review before they are paid.
Commercial Construction
- Bills on a large multi-phase project route to the assigned project manager (PM), then to finance for a second approval on high amounts.
- Bills based on purchase order (PO) type route differently, so subcontractor bills and material bills follow separate review paths.
- Bills with no purchase order (PO) route for extra review to keep project costs controlled.
Roofing and Exteriors
- Large material bills for a reroof route to the owner for approval before export.
- Bills from a specific supplier route to accounting when totals cross a set amount.
- Bills with a quantity discrepancy route for review so overbilling is caught before payment.
How to prepare
01Have an administrator reach out to Support or your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to have AP approvals and any prerequisite configurations enabled.
02Confirm the new View/edit approval workflows permission is assigned to the administrators who will build and manage workflows. [VERIFY (MEDIUM CONFIDENCE) - confirm default value and which roles have this permission on by default]
03Identify which bills need review at your company, such as high-dollar bills, specific vendors, or bills with no purchase order (PO), and map them to approvers.
04Train your accounting and approver teams on submitting bills for approval and acting on the Pending Approval tab.
05Bookmark any Knowledge Base articles or Academy videos for team training.