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Internal control: who can commit the company's money?
Internal control rests on a simple idea, segregation of duties: the person who requests an expense is not the one who authorises it, and the one who authorises it is not necessarily the one who pays. In many Moroccan SMEs the reality is different: the managing director signs off everything, often with an "ok" on WhatsApp, and the accountant who enters a supplier invoice can also send the transfer.
With ten people, trust is enough. With 40 employees, several sales reps, a buyer and a warehouse, the risks change scale: discounts granted to close a sale, purchases committed without authorisation, payments made before the goods arrive. An approval workflow is not a sign of distrust; it also protects the people who carry out the work.
- Discounts granted without management agreement
- Supplier payments sent by the person who entered the invoice
- Purchases committed before any authorisation
- Verbal or message-based sign-offs that cannot be traced
Example approval matrix for a 40-employee distributor
An approval matrix states, for each type of operation, the threshold above which a decision is required and who makes it. In SOGESTIO you set, for each type, a threshold in DH (or a percentage for discounts) and who may decide: "accountant, owner or admin", or "owner or admin" only. Below the threshold the operation goes through at once; above it, the operation waits for the decision. The table below shows a possible setup for a Casablanca distributor.
Discount example: a sales rep prepares a quote for 60,000.00 DH excl. VAT and grants a 7,500.00 DH discount to win the deal, or 12.5%. With the company's threshold set at 10%, the quote cannot be validated: the rep requests approval, the managing director is notified and decides. If he agrees, the quote is validated at 52,500.00 DH excl. VAT; if the rep later changes the amount, a new approval is needed.
| Operation | No approval | Approval required | Who decides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paying an expense | Under 5,000 DH incl. VAT | From 5,000 DH incl. VAT | Finance director (accountant role) |
| Supplier payment | Under 50,000 DH | From 50,000 DH | Managing director (owner or admin) |
| Discount on a quote or invoice | Under 10% | From 10% | Managing director (owner or admin) |
| Purchase request | — | Every request, before the purchase order | Managing director (owner or admin) |
| Leave request | — | Every request | Finance director (accountant role) |
| Expense claim | — | Every claim | Finance director (accountant role) |
What SOGESTIO holds back, and when
Each rule acts at the moment money is committed, not afterwards during an audit. Approvers are notified in SOGESTIO and find on one screen what awaits their decision, their own requests and the history of decisions.
Once a request is sent, what the decision rests on is frozen: the amount, the payee and the payment method of a pending or approved payment can no longer be changed. If the amount of a request changes, the old request is cancelled and a new one is submitted, so an approver never signs off a figure different from the one that will be applied.
- Expense: the cost is booked, its payment waits for approval
- Supplier payment: no effect until it is approved
- Discount: the quote or invoice cannot be validated without agreement
- Purchase: the request is approved before it becomes a purchase order
- Leave and expense claims: every request goes to an approver
Nobody approves their own request, not even the managing director
The rule has no exceptions: whatever their role, the owner included, the author of a request cannot approve it. If the managing director enters a large expense personally, another authorised user decides on it, for example the finance director when the rule gives the decision to the accountant role. That is the four-eyes principle, applied without effort.
A rejection must state a reason, which the requester sees alongside the request. Only the owner and administrators can change approval rules, so no user can loosen the threshold that applies to them.
Delegation: the workflow keeps running during an absence
An approver who is travelling or on leave should not hold up the business. They delegate their decisions to another user for a set period, with a start and an end date. Example: the finance director is away from Monday 3 to Friday 14 August 2026 and delegates to the chief accountant; during those twelve days, requests that fall to her are handled without waiting for her return.
The delegate acts only within the delegator's own rights and can never approve their own requests. Each decision taken under delegation is recorded on behalf of the delegator, together with the identity of the person who decided, and the delegation can be revoked at any time.
Audit log: what changes compared with WhatsApp sign-offs
An "ok" on WhatsApp or a signature on a paper slip does not show exactly what was agreed, when, or by whom if the phone is shared. Six months later, in front of the accountant or an auditor, the proof cannot be found. In SOGESTIO each request keeps its amount, author, decision, approver, date and comment, and the audit log records who did what, and when.
- Before: a voice note; after: a dated decision with a name on it
- Before: lost paper slips; after: a searchable history
- Before: a workflow that stops during holidays; after: controlled delegation
- Before: discounts negotiated alone; after: a threshold everyone knows
Which workflows apply with the modules of your plan?
Approval workflows apply to the modules in your plan. With the sales and expenses modules of Starter, at 199 DH/month excl. VAT, they cover discounts on quotes and invoices and the payment of expenses. With Pro, at 449 DH/month excl. VAT, and Groupe, at 990 DH/month excl. VAT, they also cover purchases and supplier payments, as well as leave and expense claims in the Human Resources module. In Groupe, each company has its own rules. The 14-day free trial needs no bank card and no commitment.
Frequently asked questions
What is an expense approval workflow?
It is the rule that sets the amount above which an expense must be approved before it is paid, and who approves it. In SOGESTIO you choose the threshold and the authorised role: below it the expense is paid normally; above it the cost is booked but the payment waits for the decision.
Can different operations have different rules?
Yes. Each type has its own rule: a DH threshold for paying expenses and supplier payments, a percentage for discounts, and approval of every request for purchases, leave and expense claims. Each rule can be switched on or off separately.
Can we have several levels of approval?
Each type of operation has one threshold and one approver role. In practice a large purchase goes through several successive checks: the purchase request is approved, then the supplier payment is subject to its own threshold, which separates committing the expense from paying it.
What happens when the approver is away?
They delegate their decisions to another user for a specific period. The delegate decides within the delegator's rights, never on their own requests, and each decision is recorded on behalf of the delegator.
Can the managing director approve their own expenses?
No. In SOGESTIO the author of a request can never approve it, whatever their role. The managing director's expense is decided by another authorised user, which applies segregation of duties right to the top of the company.
Are approvals traceable?
Yes. Each request keeps its amount, author, decision, approver, date and the reason for any rejection, and the audit log records user actions. Your accountant or auditor can see who authorised what.