Who approved this payment? Building spend accountability on a small team

When three people can move money and nobody signs off, surprises are guaranteed. A lightweight approval habit for Nigerian SMEs that does not feel like corporate bureaucracy.

• Set a naira threshold: above it, a named person approves before pay.
• Save vendor profiles — stop one-off account numbers in chat.
• Rejected expenses stay on record with a reason.

Ngozi’s clinic in Abuja has twelve staff. The office manager pays suppliers. The nurse buys medical consumables. Ngozi approves salaries. Last month a ₦340,000 transfer to a “consultant” showed up with no matching invoice. Everyone thought someone else had signed off. Nobody had.

Unmatched payments should surface before the month closes — not in a fight.

You do not need a committee

Accountability is not about slowing payments down. It is about one clear rule: above a threshold, a named human says yes before money leaves — and that yes is recorded.

• Under ₦50,000: log same day, no pre-approval (adjust to your reality).
• ₦50,000–₦500,000: approver confirms on WhatsApp or in app — name saved on the line.
• Above ₦500,000: invoice or quote attached, founder or finance lead approval.
• New vendor: verify account details once, save vendor profile — no one-off account numbers in chat.

Employee expenses without drama

Staff should not guess if a claim will be paid. They submit amount, date, purpose, receipt. Approver accepts or rejects with a reason — rejected claims do not vanish; they stay on record. That alone stops “I thought it was fine” arguments.

The audit trail your future self wants

When a revenue officer, investor, or angry co-founder asks “who authorised this?”, you want a line: amount, date, vendor, category, approver, receipt. Not a screenshot buried under 400 WhatsApp messages.

Logged by + category + vendor = a story that holds up.

Try expense approvals in Business Buddy — Employee portal · rejection reasons on record