Overview
Bill approvers let you assign a bill to one or more people for sign-off before it can be approved for payment. Approvers don't need a JACK login to review or act on a bill.
Approval settings for a bill coming from a particular supplier can be set through Supplier rules; this includes settings such as whether a specific person or a particular role in the organisation needs to provide approval.
Assigning an Approver
While processing a bill, set one or more Bill Approvers.
Click Needs Approval.
JACK asks whether to email the assigned approver(s) to notify them that a bill needs their sign-off. Click the Send Emails button to send it.
ℹ️ If Supplier Rules require all assigned approvers to sign off, every listed approver must approve before the bill can move to Approved status.
The Approver's Experience
Approvers receive an email with a unique link to action the bill. No JACK login is required.
From the emailed link, the approver can review:
The supplier name, reference number and other bill details entered during processing.
A PDF copy of the bill (if uploaded).
The comments section, showing all existing comments and a full history of the bill's status changes. Approvers can also add their own comment from here.
They then have three actions:
Approve. Moves the bill into Approved for Payment.
Reject. Prompts for a rejection reason, emails it to the supplier, and saves it permanently in the Comments section.
Hold. Removes the bill from the list to be synced with your accounting software.
Rejecting a Bill
You can reject a bill from the Edit Bill screen in JACK, or an approver can reject it from their emailed approval link. Either way, JACK emails the rejection reason to the supplier, the bill moves into Rejected status, and the reason is saved in the bill’s comments section.
From the Edit Bill screen
Navigate to Finance > Bills.
Click the relevant bill to open the Edit Bill screen.
Click Reject at the bottom of the screen.
Enter a rejection reason in the pop-up window.
Click Send.
From the approval link
Click the link in the approval email.
Click Reject.
Enter a reason (e.g. “Over the quoted amount, please reissue bill”).
Click Send.
ℹ️ The supplier’s email includes a copy of the bill alongside the rejection reason, so they can see exactly which bill needs reissuing.
Comments & History
Every bill keeps a full comment and status history, including:
Comments added by anyone with access (builder, estimator, approver).
Status changes (e.g. moved to Needs Approval, Approved, Rejected).
Who approved or rejected the bill, and when.
💡 This gives you a full audit trail on a bill and is useful if a bill is queried later and you need to see exactly what happened and who signed off.