---
id: feature/573255
type: feature
title: AI-Driven Approvals
summary: "Expense Agent: AI-Driven Approvals. In preview, GA 2026-12 (Microsoft 365 roadmap). Expense Agent can validate submitted expense reports against approval policies written in natural language and provide approvers with guidance during the review process. After an employee submits an expense report, the system evaluates both the overall report and the individual expense lines to detect potential policy violations, suspicious patterns, or situations that might require closer attention."
tier: official
language: en
system: copilot
tags:
  - expense agent
review:
  state: derived
  by: null
  at: null
  flags: []
generated:
  at: "2026-10-07T23:41:05.192Z"
  pipeline: 0.2.0
  prompts: {}
  input_hash: e1cbf9116932531aeb96324c3790d62b79288ec933f1c46922d56b668efc8216
evidence:
  - kind: roadmap
    url: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/roadmap?id=573255
    title: Microsoft 365 roadmap 573255
    date: "2026-09-30"
    commit: null
    t: null
    quote: null
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVfZoDwKYpI&t=3745s
    title: "Microsoft presents: Behind the scenes of how we build the new Expense Agent: Expense Policies"
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: 3745
    quote: null
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egE6UdOfar0&t=718s
    title: "Introducing: Expense Agent in Business Central (2026 release wave 1): Policy-based approval process"
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: 718
    quote: null
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0IzeLSn7qU&t=53s
    title: "What's new in Expense Agent: Improved Approval Process (2026 release wave 2): AI-driven approval policies"
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: 53
    quote: null
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o94V_lF8oNM&t=35s
    title: "What's new in Expense Agent: Travel and Expense Policy Automation (2026 release wave 2): Evaluate compliance with AI"
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: 35
    quote: null
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o94V_lF8oNM&t=49s
    title: "What's new in Expense Agent: Travel and Expense Policy Automation (2026 release wave 2): Policy validation with free text rules"
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: 49
    quote: null
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o94V_lF8oNM&t=189s
    title: "What's new in Expense Agent: Travel and Expense Policy Automation (2026 release wave 2): Policy compliance flagging"
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: 189
    quote: null
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjML7lXSsd0&t=234s
    title: "Introducing: Expense Management (2026 release wave 1): Expense approval workflow"
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: 234
    quote: null
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGCNMIBcpc&t=313s
    title: "Expense Agent: Approvals (2026 release wave 1): Expense Agent policies"
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: 313
    quote: null
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj1vvsmAMVs&t=300s
    title: "What's new in Expense Agent: Overview (2026 release wave 2): AI-Driven Travel Expense Policy Compliance"
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: 300
    quote: null
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj1vvsmAMVs&t=378s
    title: "What's new in Expense Agent: Overview (2026 release wave 2): Policy Flagging for Non-Compliant Expenses"
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: 378
    quote: null
  - kind: learn
    url: https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/expense-management/expense-agent-approve-reports
    title: Approve or Send Back Expense Reports
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: null
    quote: null
  - kind: learn
    url: https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/expense-management/expense-agent-policy-compliance
    title: Understand Policy Compliance in Expense Agent
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: null
    quote: null
  - kind: learn
    url: https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/expense-management/expense-management-setup
    title: Set Up Expense Management in Business Central
    date: null
    commit: null
    t: null
    quote: null
links:
  learn:
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/expense-management/expense-agent-approve-reports
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/expense-management/expense-agent-policy-compliance
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/expense-management/expense-management-setup
  objects: []
  features: []
  topics: []
  localizations: []
  videos:
    - video/cVfZoDwKYpI
    - video/egE6UdOfar0
    - video/M0IzeLSn7qU
    - video/o94V_lF8oNM
    - video/pjML7lXSsd0
    - video/rSGCNMIBcpc
    - video/tj1vvsmAMVs
  posts: []
  guidelines: []
roadmap_id: "573255"
wave: 2026 release wave 2
status: preview
roadmap_status: In development
release_phase: General Availability
ga_date: 2026-12
preview_date: 2026-10
area: Expense Agent
whatsnew_url: null
localizations: []
objects_touched: []
---

# AI-Driven Approvals

> Expense Agent: AI-Driven Approvals. In preview, GA 2026-12 (Microsoft 365 roadmap). Expense Agent can validate submitted expense reports against approval policies written in natural language and provide approvers with guidance during the review process. After an employee submits an expense report, the system evaluates both the overall report and the individual expense lines to detect potential policy violations, suspicious patterns, or situations that might require closer attention.

[Microsoft 365 roadmap 573255](https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/roadmap?id=573255) · Expense Agent · in preview · roadmap status "In development", phase General Availability

## What Microsoft says

Expense Agent can validate submitted expense reports against approval policies written in natural language and provide approvers with guidance during the review process. After an employee submits an expense report, the system evaluates both the overall report and the individual expense lines to detect potential policy violations, suspicious patterns, or situations that might require closer attention. This process supports policies that aren't limited to exact thresholds or fixed numeric conditions, such as when business class travel is allowed, what qualifies as an appropriate business meal, or when exceptions to preferred hotel standards might be acceptable. The result is additional review context that helps approvers make better-informed decisions without replacing the final human approval step. By running policy validation after submission, the feature can apply controls at the level of a single expense line in the first release. The feature complements existing approval workflows by highlighting issues, providing context, and helping organizations enforce policy consistently while keeping approvers in control of the final decision.

## Dates

- General availability: December CY2026 (2026 release wave 2)
- Public preview: October CY2026
- On the roadmap since 2026-09-30, last changed 2026-09-30

## Covered by

Matched by Haiku among videos and Learn pages in the same galaxy system, checked against the roadmap ids and the evidence text. Every link below was reviewed by Opus.

### Videos

- [Microsoft presents: Behind the scenes of how we build the new Expense Agent](../videos/cVfZoDwKYpI.md): Expense Policies at [62:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVfZoDwKYpI&t=3745s)
- [Introducing: Expense Agent in Business Central (2026 release wave 1)](../videos/egE6UdOfar0.md): Policy-based approval process at [11:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egE6UdOfar0&t=718s)
- [What's new in Expense Agent: Improved Approval Process (2026 release wave 2)](../videos/M0IzeLSn7qU.md): AI-driven approval policies at [0:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0IzeLSn7qU&t=53s)
- [What's new in Expense Agent: Travel and Expense Policy Automation (2026 release wave 2)](../videos/o94V_lF8oNM.md): Evaluate compliance with AI at [0:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o94V_lF8oNM&t=35s); Policy validation with free text rules at [0:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o94V_lF8oNM&t=49s); Policy compliance flagging at [3:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o94V_lF8oNM&t=189s)
- [Introducing: Expense Management (2026 release wave 1)](../videos/pjML7lXSsd0.md): Expense approval workflow at [3:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjML7lXSsd0&t=234s)
- [Expense Agent: Approvals (2026 release wave 1)](../videos/rSGCNMIBcpc.md): Expense Agent policies at [5:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGCNMIBcpc&t=313s)
- [What's new in Expense Agent: Overview (2026 release wave 2)](../videos/tj1vvsmAMVs.md): AI-Driven Travel Expense Policy Compliance at [5:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj1vvsmAMVs&t=300s); Policy Flagging for Non-Compliant Expenses at [6:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj1vvsmAMVs&t=378s)

### Microsoft Learn

- [Approve or Send Back Expense Reports](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/expense-management/expense-agent-approve-reports)
- [Understand Policy Compliance in Expense Agent](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/expense-management/expense-agent-policy-compliance)
- [Set Up Expense Management in Business Central](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/expense-management/expense-management-setup)

Source: Microsoft 365 roadmap. Status words follow the roadmap.
