Expense Agent: Approvals (2026 release wave 1)
Expense Agent approvals in Business Central (2026 release wave 1): default and per-user approvers, the Can Approve flag, email notification on submission, send back with comments, resubmission, approver licensing, and reminders for unsubmitted reports. Policies and enhanced approvals are announced only.
- Setting up default approvers
- Configuring individual user approvers
- Submitting expenses in the web app
- Approver reviewing and opening expenses
- Approving or sending back for revision
- Licensing requirements for approvers
- Resubmitting revised expense reports
- Reminders for unsubmitted reports
- Future approval improvements teased
Overview
The video walks through the approval process of the Expense Agent. An administrator can set an optional default approver for the whole company and override it for individual users. Only users with the Can Approve flag can be chosen as approvers.
The demo then follows an expense report: a user submits it in the web app, the approver gets an email with a link, reviews the report and zooms into the receipts, and either approves it or sends it back with comments. Approved reports continue to posting and reimbursement. The video also covers resubmission after revision, reminders for reports that are ready but not yet submitted, and teases later work on policies and further approval improvements.
Key points
- A default approver can be set when turning on the Expense Agent or later in its settings. It is optional and can be overridden per user.
- Only users with the Can Approve flag enabled can be assigned as approvers for others.
- Submitting a report in the web app emails the approver, with the submitter in CC. This requires an email address configured in Business Central.
- The approver reviews the report details, can zoom into attached receipts, and then approves or sends it back with comments.
- An approver must be a licensed Business Central user. Submitters do not need to be licensed users.
- After a send-back, the user revises the report and resubmits it for review.
- An administrator can configure reminders, with customizable frequency, for users who have reports ready but not submitted.
Features
| Feature | Status | At | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default approver setup | status not stated, demoed | 0:16 | |
| Per-user approver override | status not stated, demoed | 0:42 | |
| Expense report submission | status not stated, demoed | 1:21 | |
| Approver email notification | status not stated, demoed | 2:04 | |
| Report review and receipt inspection | status not stated, demoed | 2:42 | |
| Send back for revision with comments | status not stated, demoed | 2:58 | |
| Approval and posting | status not stated, demoed | 3:51 | |
| Approver licensing requirement | status not stated, demoed | 4:23 | |
| Resubmit after revision | status not stated, demoed | 4:47 | |
| Reminders for unsubmitted reports | status not stated, demoed | 5:40 | |
| Expense Agent policies | preview (roadmap AI-Driven Approvals) | 5:13 | “There might be something coming soon about policies, so stay tuned for new Expense Agent changes” (5:28) |
| Enhanced approval workflows | announced | 6:28 | “we have some more improvements coming for the approvals in uh expense agent. So, stay tuned and um for the next wave of improvements” (6:47) |
A status with a roadmap link comes from the Microsoft 365 roadmap feature this part of the video covers (matched by Haiku; links Opus dropped are not used); other statuses need a status word in the video itself.
Quotes
- 0:16 “this is going to be the person that is able to approve the expenses for everyone in your company by default”
- 0:28 “this is also not mandatory. So, in case your company doesn’t really have a default approver, you don’t need to set that up”
- 1:05 “Notice that there is a flag here called Can Approve. That’s what controls which users can be approvals for others.”
- 1:50 “it will send my approver an email if I have configured an email address inside Business Central”
- 4:23 “the approver needs to have a Business Central license and be a user in Business Central. Notice that this is not a requirement for”
- 5:28 “There might be something coming soon about policies, so stay tuned for new Expense Agent changes”
- 6:01 “you can choose a frequency to remind users to submit their reports”
- 6:47 “we have some more improvements coming for the approvals in uh expense agent. So, stay tuned and um for the next wave of improvements”
Disclaimers in the video
- 5:13 coming-later: There might be something coming soon about policies
- 6:47 coming-later: we have some more improvements coming for the approvals in uh expense agent
Presenters (as heard): Enrico.