Block a Processor from Approving before Cost Object Approver in STD Invoice ?

[Snell]

Hi,  my customer has Invoice Standard Edition.

They have setup Cost Object authorisation as the first step in the workflow however, they have noticed that Processors can jump in on the Invoice and authorise the Invoice before it gets to the Cost Object Authorisation stage, effectively bypassing the Cost Object Authorisation levels.  They can then go onto authorising the Processing step so the Invoices status goes straight to file extract and eventually the ERP system without further checks.

This represents a clear risk.  What steps can they can to stop this from happening ?  I've taken a look at Workflow and Audit rules but struggling with how to do this.

many thanks

Craig.

[KevinD · Accepted solution]

@Snell I've never tested this, but the only way I can think of to prevent processors from jumping in too soon, is to remove that step from the workflow. I just looked in one of our training sites and the Remove button does become active when I select the Processor workflow step. 

However, I believe processors can still do a query for Payment Requests that are in any submitted status. 

I don't believe there is any way to prevent them from submitting. The Processor role is a bit different than other approver roles so my thought is that by system design, there is not way to block them from approving before Cost Object approvers. 

[Snell]

Thanks Kevin for your reply. That's a shame, it would be nice to have options to curtail some Processors with perhaps a Processor privileges tier or a few tick box options etc to block this.

We will therefore have to register this as a 'Collusion Risk' with the company. 

Craig.