In this guide · 8 sections
- 01How bill approval works in Xero
- 02Who can approve and pay: Xero user roles
- 03A simple bill approval routine for a small business
- 04Batch payments: paying several bills at once
- 05Bank-detail change checks against invoice fraud
- 06Plan limits to check
- 07Do it yourself or get help?
- 08Frequently asked questions
Short answer
In Xero, bills move from Draft to Awaiting approval to Awaiting payment to Paid. Give staff who enter bills a draft-only role so they can submit but not approve, let a director approve, and limit who has the edit bank details permission. Confirm bank detail changes by phone.
How bill approval works in Xero
Every supplier bill in Xero has a status. The approval step sits between entering a bill and paying it.
| Status | What it means | Who usually acts |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Saved, not yet checked; includes bills emailed in or created by capture apps | The person entering bills |
| Awaiting approval | Submitted for someone to check and approve | Director or finance lead |
| Awaiting payment | Approved and owed to the supplier | Whoever pays bills |
| Paid | Payment recorded against the bill | Reconciled against the bank |
Bills emailed to your Xero bills address arrive as drafts (see our guide to forwarding supplier bills to Xero), so the approval step also protects you against anything sent to that address by someone who shouldn't have it.
Who can approve and pay: Xero user roles
Xero's user roles and permissions article describes roles from full access to view-only. For bills, three ideas matter:
- Draft-only access: the user can create bills as drafts and submit them for approval, but can't approve or pay. Use this for staff or a bookkeeper who enters bills.
- Approve and pay: Standard and Adviser roles, and purchases roles with approve-and-pay access, can approve bills and record payments. Keep this to the people who are accountable for spending.
- Edit bank details permission: a separate permission that controls who can add or change a contact's bank account. Xero says users who create batch payments need it to edit supplier bank details.
Xero renames and regroups roles from time to time, so check the role list in Settings, Users in your own file. The principle stays the same: the person who enters a bill should not be the only person who approves it, and as few people as possible should be able to change bank details.
A simple bill approval routine for a small business
This works for most businesses with one person entering bills and one or two directors approving.
Bills arrive in one place
Suppliers email accounts@, which forwards to Xero or a capture tool. Paper bills are photographed into the same flow.
Staff check and submit
The person entering bills checks supplier, amount, GST and account code against the purchase order or delivery note, then submits for approval.
Director reviews the Awaiting approval list weekly
Open Purchases, Bills, Awaiting approval. Look at each supplier and amount, and the attached file. Approve, or send back with a note.
Pay approved bills in one batch
Pay due bills together from the Awaiting payment list using a batch payment, on a fixed day each week or fortnight.
Reconcile the bank feed
When the payments leave the bank, match them in Xero so paid bills and bank balance agree.
Picking a fixed payment day helps: suppliers learn when they get paid, and an "urgent" request to pay outside the routine stands out.
Batch payments: paying several bills at once
Xero's Pay multiple bills article explains batch payments: select several approved bills, combine them into one payment transaction, and export a payment file to upload into your online banking. Bills still show separately in Xero, and the batch reconciles as one line against the bank.
Before uploading a payment file, check that your bank accepts the file format Xero exports for your region, and set the payment date to today or later. For more than a couple of hundred bills per run, the Xero App Store has batch-payment add-ons.
Bank-detail change checks against invoice fraud
Business email compromise often ends with an email saying a supplier has "changed banks". Xero helps in two ways: only users with the edit bank details permission can change a contact's bank account, and Xero says it sends an email notification when any digits of a contact's bank account are changed, so you can check the change is valid. The check itself is still yours.
Bank detail controls
Our guide to fake supplier invoices explains the common scams and what to do if a payment has already gone out.
Plan limits to check
Bill volume also decides which Xero plan you need. Xero's Singapore pricing page shows Starter allowing 5 bills a month, while Standard and Premium have no bill limit, as of October 2026. Xero prices in Singapore change on 1 November 2026; our Xero price increase guide has the old and new prices.
Do it yourself or get help?
Setting user roles and permissions in Xero takes half an hour if you know who should do what. The harder part is the routine around it: a single inbox for bills, a weekly approval habit and a firm rule on bank-detail changes.
Our Receipts & Bills Capture (S$290) sets up one forwarding address for supplier bills, Dext, Hubdoc, Xero Expenses or your software's own capture, supplier rules so regular bills code themselves, and a simple approval step, for example bills over an amount you choose going to a director. It is tested end to end and comes with a one-page staff guide. Bookkeeping is not included.
Frequently asked questions
Open Purchases, then Bills, and go to the Awaiting approval tab, or open a draft bill. Check the supplier, amount, GST, account code and attached file, then approve it. Approved bills move to Awaiting payment. You need a role with approve permissions, such as Standard or Adviser, to approve bills.
Yes. Give staff who enter bills a draft-only role, so they can create bills and submit them for approval but cannot approve or pay. Approval and payment stay with users who have Standard, Adviser or purchases approve-and-pay access. Check the current role names under Settings, Users in your Xero organisation.
Not natively. Xero has one approval step, and it does not route bills by amount or to a second approver. If you need limits such as bills over S$5,000 needing two directors, use a capture tool with approval rules, an approval app from the Xero App Store, or a small custom approval workflow connected to Xero.
Only users with the edit bank details permission can add or change a contact's bank account, and Xero sends an email notification when any digits of a contact's bank account change. Xero does not confirm the request is genuine, so call the supplier on a known number before changing details or paying the new account.
Yes. Select approved bills and create a batch payment. Xero combines them into one payment transaction and lets you export a payment file to upload into your online banking. The batch reconciles as one line against your bank statement, while each bill still shows as paid separately in Xero.