A document approval workflow is the defined route by which a document is reviewed and decided on. For an SME, this route must be easy to understand and manageable even when people are absent. An elaborate flow chart is of little help if nobody picks up the open task. This guide shows how to define what is reviewed, who is responsible and how exceptions are handled. The roles and amount limits described are suggestions for how a business can organise itself, not general statutory approval requirements.
Name the purpose of each approval
First clarify which decision the process is meant to secure. For an invoice, the review may cover factual accuracy and internal spending authority. For a work instruction, it concerns the technical content and the release for use. A single shared “Approve” button hides these differences if the specific review task is not described.
Formulate a clear question for each step. “Was the stated service actually provided?” is more precise than “Please check”. A second person can then assess whether the amount falls within their internal decision-making authority. In this way, responsibility is distributed in a traceable manner, instead of passing the same vague overall check from one person to the next.
Avoid levels with no visible benefit. Each additional approval can create waiting time without adding a new control. To begin with, one clear process for a frequent document type is enough. The number of steps is not proof of quality.
Assign roles and authority clearly
Distinguish between capture, technical review and decision. A person who captures a document can complete the papers without giving the substantive approval. A technical review body does not automatically have to decide on the final financial question as well. Define these roles deliberately and explain what each one confirms.
Check whether the intended people are actually allowed to see the document. Under Art. 8, para. 1 of the Federal Act on Data Protection (DSG), controllers must ensure, through suitable technical and organisational measures, data security appropriate to the risk; under para. 2, those measures must make it possible to avoid data security breaches. A task should not become solvable simply because confidential documents become visible to everyone.
Plan the deputy arrangement when you set the process up. The deputy should be able to take over the task in substance and have the necessary permissions. Record internally which absences the deputy is meant to cover. Entering a person in name only is not enough if they do not know the review task or the documents.
Set the sequence and amount limits
Consider which checks build on one another. It makes sense to clarify the substance of an invoice before the decision, because an unclear scope of service has to be queried first. Independent checks, such as the legal and the financial review of a contract, can run in parallel. What matters is that the final step takes account of all the results it needs.
If you differentiate by amount, define the limit unambiguously. Clarify whether the amount including or excluding value added tax is decisive and what applies when the amount is equal to the limit. “Below” and “up to and including” describe different ranges. The internal rule must cover every case, without a borderline amount falling between two levels.
Also decide what applies if the amount changes later. Approval of a smaller amount must not pass unnoticed to a higher one. Use a test case to check how your process reacts to a figure corrected afterwards, rather than assuming.
Plan for queries and rejections
A process needs more than the success path. What happens if an attachment is missing, the service is disputed or the voucher belongs to the wrong company? Describe who receives a query and what information is to be added. Otherwise the task stays where it is, although the next action would be clear.
Distinguish a query from a final rejection. A missing detail can be supplied later; an impermissible expense may call for a different decision. This distinction should also be understandable in everyday business language.
Give reasons for decisions in a way the next person understands. “Wrong” is less helpful than a note pointing to the missing confirmation of the service. For accounting records and vouchers, Art. 3 GeBüV requires that they cannot be changed without this being detectable. Do not correct a faulty voucher silently; correct it so that the change remains visible. It is good practice for queries and decisions within the process to remain traceable as well.
Practical example: applying an internal amount limit
The fictitious firm Morgenrain, a contractor, sets an internal limit of CHF 2’000.00 for reviewing invoices. The decisive amount is the invoice total including value added tax. Up to and including that amount, the designated specialist lead decides after the factual review. Above it, the specialist lead and the management decide jointly. The limit is a freely chosen example and not a statutory requirement or a recommendation for your business.
Three vouchers amount to CHF 1’850.00, CHF 2’000.00 and CHF 2’150.00. The first two fall into the first level, including the voucher of exactly CHF 2’000.00, because the limit applies “up to and including”. The third lies above it and needs both decisions. Together the vouchers come to CHF 6’000.00; each voucher is assessed individually, and a total is not decisive for the decision.
The first voucher lacks a confirmation of service. Its low amount therefore does not lead to approval: the responsible person first clarifies the content. For the third voucher, the service is confirmed but the second decision is still outstanding. This is how the team tells a case that is unresolved on substance from one that is merely awaiting an internal decision.
The specialist lead is covered by a deputy during a holiday absence. The deputy knows the open questions and receives the documents needed. The example shows an organisation within a business; it does not claim any automatic check of spending authority or any guarantee against faulty decisions. The workflow supports the route you have defined on technical grounds.
Observe and document each run
Look regularly at where tasks are waiting. A longer run time can have different causes: an open query, a missing deputy or an unclear review task. Clarify the reason before you forward the task. Otherwise the bottleneck merely moves to another person.
Art. 4, para. 1 GeBüV requires that, depending on the nature and scale of the business, the organisation, responsibilities, processes and procedures, and the infrastructure used in keeping and retaining the accounting records be documented in work instructions in such a way that the accounting records and vouchers can be understood. If invoice approval is part of these processes, include the approval steps in the work instructions; these must be kept up to date and retained for as long as the accounting records (para. 2). Under Art. 7, para. 1 GeBüV, responsibility for archived information must also be clearly regulated and documented. Art. 6 requires that records can be inspected and reviewed by an authorised person within a reasonable time until the end of the retention period. A completed approval process does not replace the orderly retention that follows.
After every change to the process, check a few typical cases. Automatic filing of vouchers is only an input step here, not a technical approval; the guide Incoming invoices digitally shows how accounting processes incoming invoices further.
Checklist for a clear process
- Document type and purpose of the decision are stated.
- Each step contains a specific review task.
- Responsible roles have suitable authority and read permissions.
- The amount basis and borderline cases are described unambiguously.
- Queries and rejections have a clear follow-up route.
- Absences are covered by a suitable deputy.
- Changes to the content are assessed again on substance.
- Open and failed workflows are reviewed regularly.
- The approval steps are in the work instruction.
An internal approval is also not an electronic signature. If a document is to be signed afterwards, the form requirement, the signatories and the final version must be clarified separately; the guide on electronic signatures explains this step and the limits of simple confirmation procedures.
How KMU | base helps
Docu | base offers a visual workflow editor. You draw workflows with tasks, branches, parallel branches, actions, waiting and an end. Tasks have a person responsible, a deadline and an escalation. A workflow becomes active only when it has no review findings; this technical check does not replace your own assessment of who should be responsible. Every save is a new version, and running workflows continue with their own version.
You find the workflows under Docu | base › Workflows (in the sidebar under “More”); this requires the right “Manage document types, filing rules and views”. Workflow templates are provided as a starting point for invoice approval, contract approval, required reading, inbox distribution and monthly voucher checks. You open a template, assign only the roles and choose “Use as workflow”; templates you adopt are inactive at first. You then adjust them in the editor and switch them to active.
With amount limits, an approval goes to a different level depending on the amount. The levels apply “up to” an amount, the limit included; the last level is open-ended. The amount comes from a field of the document, by default the field “Amount”. If it is not available as a number, the top level applies. Check, therefore, which value your capture process enters in this field, gross or net.
Tasks appear under Docu | base › Document tasks. There you approve or reject (a rejection requires a comment), forward with a reason if the wrong person is responsible, and under “Deputy during absence” enter a period and the deputy who receives your tasks during the absence. Only someone with the right “Manage document types, filing rules and views” can set deputies for other people. The workflow monitor under Docu | base › Workflows › Monitor shows running, failed and overdue workflows, the numbers, rejections and the average lead time per workflow; you can cancel a workflow with a reason, which closes all open tasks.
These functions do not result in any automatic legal check, any check of spending authority or any payment approval. The workflow maps the route you define.
The Docu | base guide explains how to use it. Take a look at the Demo, open a test account or write to us via the Contact page.
Sources
- Ordinance on Accounting Records (GeBüV, SR 221.431), Art. 3, 4, 6 and 7, as at 1 January 2013: fedlex.admin.ch (German original), accessed on 27.10.2026.
- Federal Act on Data Protection (DSG, SR 235.1), Art. 8, paras. 1–2, as at 7 July 2025: fedlex.admin.ch (German original), accessed on 27.10.2026.
This guide does not replace legal or tax advice. Information as at 27.10.2026.