How are vendor invoices routed for approval when entities are in different countries?
Short answer
Vendor invoices are routed based on the legal entity responsible for the purchase. Approval policies can then send each bill to the appropriate finance owner, department leader, or other approver based on the entity, invoice amount, vendor, payment type, or accounting details.
How multi-entity invoice approvals work
Each invoice is assigned to the entity that will record the expense and pay the supplier. This keeps the approval trail, funding account, accounting treatment, and payment workflow connected to the correct legal entity.
Within a multi-entity business, each entity can use its own payment and accounting settings. Finance teams can also apply entity-specific approval rules, so an invoice follows the policy associated with the entity that owns it.
How Ramp routes Bill Pay approvals
Ramp Bill Pay can route approvals using the bill’s Business Entity, along with rules based on amount, department, vendor, payment type, and GL fields. This lets finance teams apply the appropriate approval path to each entity’s bills.
Admins can limit Accounts Payable users to the entities they manage. That helps entity-level finance teams focus on the bills assigned to their legal entity while preserving appropriate access controls.
For Canadian businesses, Ramp supports multi-level dollar thresholds, approvals from designated people or roles, and department- or vendor-specific approval rules. Approval actions are logged with the approver’s name and timestamp for an audit trail.
International payments can also require payment release after invoice approval, adding a final review before funds leave the entity’s account.
Learn more about how Ramp helps with invoice management:
Related questions
Yes. Eligible non-US entities can pay vendors in other countries through Ramp Bill Pay when the entity has an approved local-currency funding account and the payment’s country and currency are supported. The payment is set up as an international transfer, using the vendor’s international banking details.
Read moreDomestic supplier-payment timing depends on the local payment rail, when the payment is approved and released, the supplier’s bank details, and bank processing days. A payment may arrive the same day or take several business days, so AP teams should use the estimated delivery date shown when scheduling the payment rather than relying on one country-wide timeline.
Read moreTo make a domestic supplier payment, submit the invoice, add or confirm the supplier’s local bank details, route the bill through your approval policy, and pay from a bank account in the entity’s local currency. The payment rail depends on the country—for example, Canadian businesses commonly use EFT for local vendor payments.
Read more