# What is Invoice approval? Explained for Exact Online | Glimps

> Invoice approval, fiatteren in Dutch, is the formal sign-off of a purchase invoice by somebody authorised to give it, before the invoice is paid. It records who approved, for what and when.

Source: https://useglimps.com/en/begrippen/fiatteren | Language: en | Updated: 2026-09-21

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Invoice approval, fiatteren in Dutch, is the formal sign-off of a purchase invoice by somebody authorised to give it, before the invoice is paid. It records who approved, for what and when.

Also known as: approving an invoice, authorizing, signing off, approval workflow

Approval answers a different question than posting. Posting is about whether the invoice is administratively correct. Approval is about whether the cost is wanted and whether the right person said yes to it. That distinction is why both steps exist, and why for larger amounts they should not be performed by the same person.

In practice approval is still often arranged by email. That works as long as nobody is on holiday and nobody asks afterwards who approved what. An approval flow in software adds three things a mailbox does not have: a rule deciding whose turn it is, a reminder when it sits still, and a record on the invoice that is still findable a year later.

## In Exact Online

Exact Online supports basic purchase invoice processes. Teams that need several approvers per invoice, rules on amount or cost centre, stand-ins during absence, reminders, or approval tied to a purchase order or contract usually add a specialised layer alongside Exact Online. The posting stays in Exact Online in every case.

## What an approval rule should key on

Most organizations start with an amount and then find out it is too coarse. Usable rules usually combine two or three things.

- Amount, with a second approver above a threshold.
- Cost centre or department, so the budget holder sees it rather than the finance team.
- Supplier, for flows that always belong to the same person.
- Contract, so an invoice inside an approved contract does not need a signature every month.

## What goes wrong when a step stalls

An invoice waiting for approval is paid late, and paying late costs discount, goodwill and sometimes a delivery hold. The two measures that help most are dull: a stand-in per approver, and a reminder that goes to the person rather than to a shared list. A third helps too: show how long something has been waiting, in days, next to the due date.

## Segregation of duties, briefly

The person entering the invoice should not be the person approving it, and neither should be able to release the payment alone. That is not distrust but a standard audit requirement, and it is exactly what an audit trail on the invoice should be able to show without anyone searching mailboxes.

## Where it usually goes wrong

- 1Making everyone an approver. If everyone can sign, a signature means nothing.
- 2Setting no stand-in. One holiday then stalls an entire flow.
- 3Arranging approval by email. A year later the mail is gone and the question is not.
- 4Having recurring contract invoices signed every month. Approve the contract, not every instalment.

## Frequently asked questions

Common questions about Invoice approval.

Questions about your situation?

### What does fiatteren mean exactly?

Fiatteren is the Dutch word for approving an invoice for payment by somebody authorised to do so. In English it is approving or authorizing. Most Dutch teams now say autoriseren, and the Dutch word accorderen is also used as a synonym.

### Does every invoice need approval?

No, and that is usually where the gain sits. An invoice inside an approved purchase order that matches within tolerance was in effect approved when the order was placed. The same goes for an invoice inside an approved contract. Approval should be about what deviates.

### Can I have invoices approved in Exact Online?

Exact Online supports basic purchase invoice processes. For multiple approvers, rules on amount and cost centre, stand-ins, reminders and a per-invoice audit trail, teams generally add a specialised layer alongside, with Exact Online remaining the accounting system.

## Read on

GL codingGL coding is assigning the right general ledger account, VAT code and optionally cost centre or cost unit to a purchase invoice or to an individual invoice line, so the cost lands in the right place in the accounts..Payment term and due dateThe payment term is the agreement on when an invoice must be paid, for example thirty days from the invoice date.3-way matching3-way matching is the check that compares a purchase invoice against the purchase order and against the goods receipt, on both quantities and prices, before the invoice is approved for payment..Approving invoices in Exact OnlineGo to the page Approval workflowsGo to the page