An approval matrix template is a grid that sets who must approve a purchase, contract or decision, based on its value and category. It replaces ad hoc sign-off with fixed tiers, so every request reaches the right people in the right order.
It is a written rulebook for sign-off, laid out as a table. Rows are thresholds or request types, columns are roles, and each cell says whether that role approves, reviews or is simply kept informed.
Finance and procurement teams write one when a company grows past the point where the founder or CFO can approve everything personally. It speeds up small purchases, adds checks to large or risky ones and gives auditors evidence that controls exist.
Larger organisations call the formal version a delegation of authority, and a corporate approval matrix often extends it beyond spend to hiring, discounts and capital projects. This template covers all three, starting with purchases.
Value bands, usually by annual contract value, that decide how senior the approval must be.
Named by position, not by person, so the matrix survives staff changes.
Extra reviewers for software, data, services or unbudgeted spend at any amount.
Who signs first and who signs last, and which reviews can run in parallel.
Who can approve when an approver is away, and the limits on passing authority down.
Ready to use in Excel and Google Sheets. Fill it in, save it, reuse it.
The requester states the vendor, annual value, category and whether it is in budget.
The annual value places the request in one of five tiers, which fixes the final approver.
Software adds a security review, services add legal, and unbudgeted spend adds finance.
Reviewers clear their checks first, then approvers sign from the lowest tier role upwards.
The approvals are saved with the request and a PO or signed contract follows.
The simplest usable matrix has three rows: under $5,000 the budget owner approves, up to $50,000 add finance, above that add the CFO. Add category rules once that works.
Read across a row to see everyone who must act at that value. Each tier adds one approver to the one below it, so a $40,000 request still needs the budget owner. The thresholds below are illustrative; set yours from your own budget sizes and audit findings.
| Tier | Annual value | Budget owner | Dept VP | Finance | Procurement | CFO | CEO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Under $5,000 | Approves | Informed | ||||
| 2 | $5,000-24,999 | Approves | Approves | Reviews | |||
| 3 | $25,000-99,999 | Approves | Approves | Approves | Approves | ||
| 4 | $100,000-249,999 | Approves | Approves | Approves | Approves | Approves | |
| 5 | $250,000+ | Approves | Approves | Approves | Approves | Approves | Approves |
Illustrative thresholds and roles. Value means total annual commitment, not one invoice.
These apply at every tier, on top of the approvers above.
| Category | Extra reviewer | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Software and SaaS | IT and security | Checks data access, SSO and overlap with tools you already own |
| Personal or customer data | Privacy or legal | Confirms a data processing agreement is in place |
| Professional services | Legal | Reviews the SOW, liability and IP terms |
| Unbudgeted spend | Finance | Approves the reallocation, even under $5,000 |
| Multi-year or auto-renewing | Procurement | Checks notice periods and price increase caps |
Illustrative category rules.
A Tiers tab holds the lower bound of each tier in A2:A6 (0, 5000, 25000, 100000, 250000) and the final approver in C2:C6. The Requests tab reads it.
| Col | Header | Entry or formula | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Request ID | Text | One row per request |
| B | Vendor | Text | Read by the split check |
| C | Request date | Date | Read by the split check |
| D | Annual value | Currency | Total yearly commitment |
| E | Category | Drop-down: Software, Services, Goods, Other | Drives the extra reviews |
| F | Budgeted? | Drop-down: Yes, No | No adds a finance approval |
| G | Tier | =MATCH(D2, | Finds the highest bound at or below the value |
| H | Final approver | =INDEX(Tiers!$C$2:$C$6, | Most senior sign-off needed |
| I | Security review | =IF(E2='Software', | Software always goes to IT |
| J | Legal review | =IF(OR(D2>=25000, | Tier 3 and above, or any services |
| K | Unbudgeted | =IF(F2='No', | Overrides the tier for finance |
| L | Split check | =IF(COUNTIFS(B:B, | Same vendor twice in 30 days |
The approval matrix tells a request where to go; the delegation of authority proves that the people at each step are allowed to say yes. Keep spend approval and contract signing in separate columns, because many companies let a VP approve a purchase but only officers sign the contract.
| Role | Approve spend up to | Sign contracts up to | Can sub-delegate? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget owner | $5,000 | Not authorised | No |
| Department VP | $100,000 | Not authorised | To a director, up to $25,000 |
| Head of procurement | $100,000 | $100,000 on standard terms | No |
| CFO | $250,000 | $250,000 | To the controller, up to $100,000 |
| CEO | Board-approved budget | Any value | In writing only |
| Board | Unbudgeted items above $500,000 | As resolved | Not applicable |
Illustrative limits that line up with the five tiers in Part 1.
To: [Finance team, procurement team] From: [Name, Title] Date: [Date] Subject: Temporary delegation of approval authority While I am away from [Start date] to [End date], I delegate my approval authority to [Delegate name, Title] for requests up to [Amount] in [Cost centre or category]. This delegation does not cover [Exclusions, e.g. unbudgeted spend or contract signing] and ends automatically on [End date]. [Signature]
Most software requests are small, recurring and easy to duplicate across teams. That is why the category rule in Part 1 sends every software request through IT, whatever the value. Run security and commercial reviews in parallel to keep the total time down.
| Stage | Owner | What they check | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Request | Requester | Business need, number of users, budget line | Day 0 |
| 2. Overlap check | IT | Do we already own a tool that does this? | 2 days |
| 3. Security review | Security | Data types, SSO, security reports, sub-processors | 5 days |
| 4. Commercial review | Procurement | Price against benchmarks, term, renewal notice period | 5 days, in parallel |
| 5. Legal review | Legal | MSA, DPA and any non-standard terms | 5 days |
| 6. Approve and sign | Finance and signatory | Budget, tier approval, PO and signature | 2 days |
Illustrative target times. Requests under $5,000 on standard terms can skip stage 5.
For the wider picture, see the full software procurement process, including how renewals feed back into the same route.
Value decides who approves the spend, but risk decides who reviews the contract. A $3,000 tool with uncapped liability deserves more legal attention than a $60,000 renewal on your own terms. Use this table alongside the tier in Part 1.
| Contract type | Review route | Signatory |
|---|---|---|
| NDA on your template | No review if unchanged | Department VP |
| Order form under an existing MSA | Procurement checks price and term | Per the DoA limit |
| New MSA on vendor paper | Legal review and redline | CFO or CEO |
| Data processing agreement | Privacy or legal review | CFO or CEO |
| Renewal with a price increase | Procurement and budget owner | Per the DoA limit |
| Non-standard terms (uncapped liability, exclusivity) | General counsel | CEO |
Illustrative routes.
Start from your template or log the vendor's paper with the request ID.
Legal, privacy and procurement review in parallel, each noting required changes.
Redlines go back to the vendor; any change to price or term goes back to the budget owner.
Approvers from the matrix sign off on the final version, not an earlier draft.
Only a signatory within their DoA limit signs.
File the signed copy with renewal and notice dates so nothing auto-renews unseen.
Once the spend matrix works, other teams usually ask for the same clarity. Add one row per decision type and keep the role columns the same, so one document covers every approval in the company.
| Decision | Manager | VP | CFO | CEO | Board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New headcount in budget | Proposes | Approves | Informed | ||
| Headcount not in budget | Proposes | Reviews | Approves | Approves | |
| Customer discount above 20% | Approves | Reviews | |||
| Capital project over $250,000 | Proposes | Reviews | Approves | Approves | |
| Open or close a bank account | Approves | Approves | Informed | ||
| Write off a customer debt | Proposes | Approves |
Illustrative decisions and roles.
Spendflo routes every purchase request to the right approvers by amount and category.
See how it worksThe value at which a request moves to the next tier and gains an approver.
The yearly commitment, used instead of one invoice so recurring spend is sized correctly.
The person who requests a purchase cannot also approve or pay for it.
Breaking one purchase into smaller ones to stay under a threshold.
Passing part of your authority to someone below you, in writing and with a limit.
Responsible, accountable, consulted, informed: a common way to label each cell.
A $2,000 monthly subscription is a $24,000 decision and belongs in tier 2.
The matrix should still work the day an approver leaves.
Security, legal and procurement can review at the same time to save days.
Give each approver a target, such as two working days, before the request escalates.
Raise thresholds as budgets grow, or senior people end up approving trivia.
More than five tiers confuses requesters and slows every purchase.
Even within your limit, a second person must approve.
Check for the same vendor twice in 30 days, as the router does.
Approval to spend is not authority to sign; check the DoA column.
Export purchases by vendor and value to see how many fall in each band.
Aim for most requests in tiers 1 and 2, so senior approvers see only the large ones.
Ask IT, security and legal which request types they must see at any value.
Get CFO sign-off, share the one-page grid and use the router tab on every request.
Marketing requests Orbit Analytics at $3,200 a month, or $38,400 a year. The router returns tier 3, so the budget owner, marketing VP, finance and procurement all approve. Security review is required because the category is software, and legal review because the value is above $25,000. Procurement negotiates the price down before finance signs. All figures are illustrative.
Every part on this page, in Excel and Google Sheets, with the examples filled in.
Three tiers, with the founder or CFO as final approver and IT checking every software request.
Five tiers, a written DoA and separate software and contract routes, often run through approval workflows rather than email.
Board-approved DoA, sub-delegation registers and a corporate matrix that covers non-spend decisions too.
Best for building the router and testing thresholds.
Best for a shared, always-current matrix.
The tier grid and category rules on one sheet.
$3.7B in software spend processed through Spendflo, at 30% average savings.
See your savingsAn approval matrix makes clear who says yes to what, from a $500 tool to a $500,000 contract. When requests still arrive by email and approvers are chased by hand, the matrix needs a routing system behind it.
Quick answers to what people ask most about the approval matrix template.
It looks like a grid with value tiers or decision types down the side and roles across the top, with each cell showing approve, review or informed. Category rules usually sit underneath for software, data and services. You can download a filled example from this page.
An approval matrix is a table that sets who must approve a purchase, contract or decision based on its value and type. It speeds up small requests and adds checks to large or risky ones. Download the template above to start from five ready-made tiers.
A decision matrix lists options in columns and weighted criteria in rows, then scores each option to find the best choice. An approval matrix is different: it decides who signs off, not which option wins. You can download our decision matrix template from the related templates below.
It is a document that sets the maximum each role can approve or sign and how that authority can be passed on. It sits behind the approval matrix as proof that approvers are allowed to say yes. The download includes a DoA table and a temporary delegation memo.
You can download it from the buttons at the top of this page, in Excel or Google Sheets. It includes the spend matrix with router formulas, delegation of authority table, software and contract approval routes and a corporate matrix.
Procurement
Purchase orders
Contracts
Vendor management
Sourcing and RFx
Budgets and business cases
Accounts payable
Purchasing
Software buying
Supply chain
Spendflo turns your approval matrix into live intake and approval routing, with contracts and renewals tracked in one place.
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