Email-based approvals are not a process — they are a liability. No audit trail, no enforcement, no protection. One convincing email away from a fraudulent payment.
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If approvals happen over email, if purchase orders are informal, if the same person can raise and approve their own spend — the controls are not working. Here is what that looks like in practice.
An email that says "yes, pay this" is not an approval process. There is no record of who authorised what, on what basis, or whether they had the authority to do so.
POs are raised informally or not at all. Bills arrive from suppliers for orders that were never properly authorised. Finance pays them because there is no way to verify.
No segregation of duties means no protection. An auditor, investor, or acquirer looking at your approval history would find this immediately.
Business email compromise fraud targets exactly this scenario. A convincing email impersonating a director or supplier requesting a payment — and nothing technical to stop it.
If an investor or auditor asked for the last 12 months of bill approval records — who approved, when, on what authority — how long would it take? For most SMEs, the honest answer is days, and it would be incomplete.
How Fintelwise Works
We do not sell software. We implement the right combination of tools inside your existing Xero or QuickBooks environment — and we make sure it actually works before we hand it over.
A paid Discovery Session where we map exactly what is broken, what needs changing, and what it will cost. You get a written document — yours permanently, whether you proceed with us or not.
We select the right tools for your specific situation — not the most expensive, not the most complex. A fixed-price proposal with no surprises and a clear delivery timeline.
We build and configure everything inside your Xero or QuickBooks environment, train your team, and hand over a system that runs properly. Then we step back.
Real Result
A business was receiving fraudulent emails impersonating the owner and requesting payments. Approval was purely email-based, making it trivial to spoof. We implemented a Purchase Order system in ApprovalMax with bill-to-PO matching — every incoming bill must be matched to an approved purchase order before payment. No PO, no payment. The fraud vector was eliminated entirely.
The Discovery Session
Before any implementation begins, we produce a written Finance Systems Audit that defines exactly what will be changed, what it will cost, and what it will not include. You own the document permanently.
45-min session + written summary. One specific problem, one clear solution. Best for single tool setups.
90-min session + 4–6 page Finance Systems Audit. Multiple issues or one moderately complex implementation.
Two sessions + 10–15 page Finance Transformation document. Full overhauls, migrations, multi-entity.
The document is yours regardless of what you decide next. If you proceed with Fintelwise, the full Discovery fee is credited against your implementation cost. If you do not — you still walk away knowing exactly what needs fixing and what it will cost.
Get Started
Book a free 30-minute call. We will map your current approval process, identify the specific gaps, and show you what a properly controlled system looks like inside Xero or QuickBooks.