Macalester Finance Approvals Explained
Macalester College has an approval process that requires employees with an appropriate Finance approval level to review and approve:
- Expenses: Pcard expenditures, expense reports, reimbursements
- Payments to Suppliers: Invoices, Standard engagement contracts (SEC), Check requests
- Journal entries (JE’s): moving funds within the College
Learn about Approver Responsibilities
Workday: Finance Approval Levels
- Approval workflows have been assigned within Workday to provide automated routing. An individual may be assigned an approval role for a particular budgetary unit (eg. a department; a grant).
- Each Cost Center, Grant, and Gift may have ONE approver for each approval level.
- We have assigned existing approval roles based on position (eg. department chair), budgetary unit (eg. department), previous approval assignments from Argos, and feedback from specific departments.
- Once a transaction is submitted, Workday will route the transaction based on both the budget (ie. worktag) and the dollar amount of the transaction. Transactions that need higher levels of approval (above $5,000) will route sequentially through all the necessary approvers. See below for examples.
- Initiators CANNOT approve their own Expense Reports. Automated processes are built in to route this type of approval to the NEXT HIGHER APPROVER, in these scenarios.
- If you have questions about the approval routing for a budgetary unit, please contact Accounts Payable.
- To request or adjust a Workday approval, please complete contact Accounts Payable.
Cost Center Approvals
Includes Worktag Types:
- Cost Center’s Operating Budget (ex: CC1510)
- Designation (ex: DE10132)
- Programs (ex: PG15028)
- Project Code (ex: PJ1008)
| Role | Approval for Expenses including Pcards | Approval for Invoices |
| Cost Center Monitor | N/A (expense go directly to the Manager) | Below $1,000 |
| Cost Center Manager | Up to $5,000 | Above $1,000, up to $5,000 |
| L3- Line Leadership | Up to $15,000 | Up to $15,000 |
| L2- Senior Leadership | Up to $30,000 | Up to $30,000 |
| Chief Financial Officer | Up to $100,000 | Up to $100,000 |
| President | Over $100,000 | Over $100,000 |
Gift Approvals
| Role | Approval for Expenses including Pcards | Approval for Invoices |
| Gift Monitor | N/A (Expenses go directly to the Manager) | Below $1,000 |
| Gift Manager | Up to $5,000 | Above $1,000, up to $5,000 |
| L3- Line Leadership | Up to $15,000 | Up to $15,000 |
| L2- Senior Leadership | Up to $30,000 | Up to $30,000 |
| Chief Financial Officer | Up to $100,000 | Up to $100,000 |
| President | Over $100,000 | Over $100,000 |
Grant Approvals
All Grant transactions require approval from the grant’s PI and the Grant Accountant. Grant transactions over $5,000 will also require approval from a Senior Leader, Finance Officer, and President, as necessary.
Routing Examples
- $600 Invoice from department budget: > Department Coordinator (CC Monitor)
- $12,000 Invoice from department budget: > Department Chair (CC Manager) > Assistant Provost (Line Leader)
- $100 Expense Report submitted by a non-Chair professor, charged to department budget: > Chair (CC Manager)
- $100 Expense Report submitted by an AVP (Line Leader), to a program budget under their own supervision: > Program Director (CC Manager) > VP (Senior Leader)
Outside of Workday: Finance Approval Levels
Business Services continues to have processes that will not be initiated within Workday. For example, Journal Entries, Department Deposits, Cash forms. Please follow the instructions on each processes webpage to find how the approval should be obtained. Please contact Accounts Payable if you have any questions about approvals.