Segregation of duties lets you require independent approval for a set of sensitive actions in Payhawk. When the control is on, an action is held pending until it receives the required number of approvals. The person who starts the action cannot approve it, so no single person can both start and authorize a sensitive change.
Segregation of duties is a group-level control. You manage it from Group settings > Workflows > Segregation of duties.
Actions that require approval
Segregation of duties covers three actions. For each one, you set how many approvals are required before it can go through:
- Supplier bank detail change — a change to a supplier's payment details. Payments to that supplier are paused until the change is approved.
- Same-currency transfer between accounts — an internal transfer between your own Payhawk accounts in the same currency.
- FX transfer between accounts — an internal transfer between your own Payhawk accounts in different currencies. The exchange rate is locked when the transfer is approved.
Who can approve
Eligible approvers are determined by role. You manage which roles can approve from Roles and permissions. An action can be approved only by an eligible approver who did not start it.
Reviewing pending actions
Each action that needs approval appears as an authorization request in the Requests inbox. An eligible approver can approve or decline it and can see how many approvals are still needed. The person who started the action can withdraw or cancel it while it is still pending.
Changing the segregation of duties settings
A change to the segregation of duties settings is itself held until it is approved. After you edit the settings, Payhawk shows a Change pending approval banner and marks the affected action as Pending approval until an eligible approver signs off. The new settings take effect only after approval.
Useful resources
- Setting up segregation of duties
- Approving and declining segregation of duties requests