What is a maker-checker expense approval workflow?

Maker-checker is a control where the person who initiates a transaction (the maker) cannot be the same person who approves it (the checker). It is one of the oldest and most effective anti-fraud controls in finance because it requires two people to collude rather than one to act alone. In a spend-management context, a maker-checker workflow means an employee submits an expense or payment request, and a designated approver reviews and authorizes it before money moves. Financiar builds approval workflows into its spend management so teams can require sign-off above a threshold, route requests to the right approver, and keep an audit trail of who approved what. This protects both the company and the approver, since every decision is logged with a timestamp and an identity.

Why two roles beat one

A single approver who can also initiate payments is a single point of failure — error or fraud passes unchecked. Splitting initiation from authorization forces a second set of eyes on every payment above a limit, catching duplicate invoices, wrong amounts, and unauthorized vendors before settlement rather than after.

Designing thresholds

Most teams set tiers: small spend auto-approves or needs one approver, larger amounts need a manager, and the largest need finance or an executive. The goal is friction proportional to risk — not blocking a coffee purchase, but never letting a five-figure transfer go out on one signature.