One of the most common ways businesses lose money is not fraud — it is approved-but-wrong invoices. A vendor overbills. A freelancer submits twice. An ad spend invoice arrives for a campaign that was cancelled. Without the right people reviewing the right invoices, these payments go out and recovering them is a nightmare.
Multi-level approval chains solve this problem permanently. Here is how they work and why every business with more than two team members should have them configured.
What is a multi-level approval chain?
An approval chain is a sequence of people who must review and approve an invoice before payment is released. Unlike a single sign-off, a chain routes the invoice through multiple decision-makers — each one adding a layer of oversight.
In Paylo, you configure chains based on rules — so the right chain fires automatically based on the invoice amount, category, or vendor.
Example chains for a typical business
Chain 1 — Large invoices (above €5,000)
Chain 2 — Media spend (Google Ads, Meta, programmatic)
⚡ With Paylo, each approver gets a single email with one-click Approve or Reject — no login required. The chain advances automatically when they click. Approvers can decide within minutes, from their phone.
How approval chains prevent invoice fraud
Multi-level chains are your best defence against the most common types of business invoice fraud:
- Vendor impersonation — a fraudster sends an invoice mimicking a real vendor. Multiple approvers are far less likely to all miss it.
- Internal fraud — an employee creating fake invoices is much harder when multiple people need to approve each payment.
- Duplicate invoices — Paylo flags duplicates before the chain even starts, but a second human review adds further protection.
- Budget overruns — the finance director in the chain can catch invoices that would take the project over budget.
Setting up approval chains in Paylo
Go to your Paylo dashboard, click Rules, then New chain. You configure:
- The chain name (e.g. "Large invoices")
- The trigger (amount range, category, specific vendor, or default)
- Each approver's email, name, and role label
Paylo handles everything else — sending emails, advancing the chain, notifying on rejection, and marking the invoice approved after the final approval. You set it up once and it applies to every matching invoice. Chains with more than one level are part of the Pro plan; during early access all accounts start with one level.
Set up your first approval chain in 5 minutes
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