Approval is the moment somebody takes responsibility for a supplier. Before it, a vendor is research. After it, you can commit money.
What approval unlocks
Three things, and they are the three that cost money:
- a purchase order,
- a bill,
- a payment.
Try any of them against a vendor who has not been approved and you are stopped, by name, with the stage they are actually in:
Pixel Perfect Studios has not been approved yet — they are shortlisted. Approve them before a purchase order is raised, so somebody has checked who is being committed to.Why it is worded like that
Because “permission denied” teaches nobody anything. The message names the vendor, names the stage, names what to do, and says why the rule exists. Somebody reading it at 7pm with an order to place can act on it without finding a manager.
Who should hold it
Approve is a separate permission from create and edit. That separation is the entire point: the person who adds a vendor should not be the person who clears them.
| Role | Add a vendor | Approve one |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase executive | Yes | No |
| Purchase manager | Yes | Yes |
| Accounts | No | Yes |
| Owner | Yes | Yes |
If one person can add a vendor and approve them, you do not have a control. You have a form. This is the commonest way money leaves a business to somewhere it should not, and it costs nothing to prevent.
What to check before you approve
- The GSTIN is real and matches the name.
- The PAN is on file — without it, TDS is deducted at the higher rate.
- The bank account has been checked against a cancelled cheque or a penny drop.
- Somebody has actually spoken to them.
The record stores who approved and when, and both print on the overview. That is not bureaucracy — it is the answer to “who cleared this supplier” a year later.
After approval
The first order, bill or payment moves them to active on its own. You do not have to do it, and you should not try — a hand-maintained active list stops meaning anything within a quarter.
A worked approval
Pixel Perfect Studios have been shortlisted and somebody wants to place a ₹40,000 job with them. Before approving:
| Check | Found | Action |
|---|---|---|
| GSTIN | 29AABCP1234F1Z5, valid | Fine. |
| PAN | Missing | Ask for it now — without it TDS comes off at the higher rate. |
| Bank account | Filled in, never verified | Penny drop, check the name matches. |
| Spoken to them | Yes, twice | Fine. |
Two of the four need work. Approving now means the first payment deducts TDS at the higher rate against an account nobody has checked — both fixable in ten minutes today, and both awkward once the money has moved.
The record then stores who approved and when, which is the answer to “who cleared this supplier?” a year later.
Where to go next
Something missing or wrong here? Tell us. A question that needed asking usually means a page that needed writing.