What it means
Define intake requirements: capture employee, date, supplier, amount, currency, business purpose, project, receipt and any preapproval, noting that policies vary by expense type and location. A missing receipt may be handled under an approved declaration process, but it should not be fabricated or coded to another category.
Protect personal information on travel records and limit access to reviewers who need it. Separate review decisions: a manager may confirm purpose and budget, while finance checks policy, duplicate claims, tax and payment information, and a sensitive entertainment or gift claim may need compliance review.
The employee should not approve their own claim, and an apparent manager approval does not waive legal or policy restrictions outside that manager's authority. Show where each claim waits and what evidence or decision is missing.
Prioritise fairly, because claims with a statutory or policy payment deadline, employees who bore a large authorised cost personally, and aged claims may need prompt attention, while high-value or unusual claims can require stronger checks without being left indefinitely. Repeatedly selecting only easy low-value claims makes the average cycle time look better while the queue's hardest items grow older.
Record reasons for holds and tell the claimant what they can provide. Check duplicates and errors: one receipt can be submitted twice through an app and email, or a foreign-currency amount may be converted incorrectly, so match supplier, date, amount and image, then investigate candidates rather than automatically rejecting common recurring charges.
If a claim exceeds a policy limit, use the proper exception path, and do not split a receipt across lines to bypass a threshold. Measure the process by reporting queue size and value by stage and age, average and high-percentile time to decision, rework rate and reasons for rejection, and reconcile a claim marked paid with the payroll or accounts payable settlement.
If employees frequently omit a field, improve the form or guidance, and if approvals stall while managers are away, set a qualified deputy under policy. For owners, an accurate review queue protects both cash controls and employee trust.
Staff who pay for legitimate business costs should not have to finance the company while a claim disappears into an inbox.
In practice
Real-world examples.
Example
A technician's approved emergency parts claim is visible as "finance review" rather than marked paid before reimbursement. The technician can see the stage and expected payment date without chasing anyone.
Example
Finance flags two submissions of the same hotel receipt and checks whether one is a corrected claim. Only after matching the supplier, date, amount and image does it reject one copy and tell the employee why.
Example
A manager on leave has an authorised deputy review claims so the queue does not stall for a week. The deputy has the same approval limits as the manager, and the handover is recorded in the approval workflow.
Formula
Calculation
Overdue claim review rate = Claims past their applicable next-step target / All open claims in the review queue x 100
Worked example. An invented firm has 120 open claims. Eighteen are past their valid next-step review target.
- Overdue rate = 18 / 120 x 100 = 15%.
- Review the 18 by cause, amount and employee impact rather than clearing them with unsupported approvals.
- Value view: if those 18 claims total $5,400, their average is $5,400 / 18 = $300, and if the other 102 open claims total $20,400, their average is $200, which shows the oldest items are also the larger ones.
Report decision time separately from actual payment time.Case study
Seen in the real world.
This illustrative and entirely fictional example follows Bay Maintenance, an invented field-service firm. Technicians frequently bought minor urgent parts and submitted receipts through an app. Managers approved the purpose, but some claims waited in finance because project codes were missing. Employees saw only "approved" and assumed payment would arrive that week. Bay added distinct stages for manager approval, finance correction, scheduled payment and settlement.
A coordinator returned missing-code claims promptly with a specific request and linked a project code to each work order where possible. Finance checked duplicates before the payment run and reconciled completed claims with bank or payroll records. A deputy handled approvals when a manager was away. The owner saw fewer aged claims and fewer frustrated employees. The process did not weaken controls to gain speed; it made the missing information and responsibility visible early.
Watch out
Common mistakes.
- Calling a claim paid when only a manager has approved its business purpose.
- Letting a missing receipt or project code sit in an unowned inbox without telling the employee.
- Splitting or misclassifying expenses to clear a policy exception.
Questions
People also ask.
Is review time the same as payment time?
No. Show approval and settlement as distinct stages with their own dates.
Can a manager approve every type of expense?
Only within their authority; finance or compliance may need to review other requirements.
What if evidence is missing?
Use the permitted correction or declaration route and give the employee a clear request, not a silent hold.
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