Journal Entry Approval

Force every journal entry through a second reviewer before it touches the ledger. Built for firms that need real segregation of duties and an audit trail their CPA will sign off on.

Why Approval Workflow

With approval enabled, nothing posts to your books until a designated reviewer signs off. A bookkeeper drafts the entry, adds context, and sends it to a manager or partner. The reviewer reads it, approves or rejects it, and only approved entries hit account balances.

What it gets you:

• Error prevention — a second pair of eyes catches transpositions, wrong accounts, and bad classifications before they corrupt your statements
• Segregation of duties — preparer and approver are different people, satisfying the core internal-control principle every auditor wants to see
• Permanent audit trail — preparer, reviewer, timestamps, comments, every status change — all written to the log and never editable
• SOX / GAAP alignment — satisfies the journal-entry review controls auditors test under AU-C 240 and PCAOB AS 2301

Entry Status Lifecycle

Journal entries move through these statuses on their way to the ledger:

Submitting for Review

1. Open Journal Entries from the sidebar
2. Click New Journal Entry
3. Enter the date, debit lines, and credit lines. Kantivo verifies the entry balances before letting you submit.
4. Fill the Description — this is what the reviewer sees in the queue
5. Add a Note to Reviewer explaining purpose, source document reference, or what the entry corrects. Optional but recommended.
6. Click Save as Draft to keep working on it, or Submit for Approval to send it

Submitted entries move to Pending Approval and notify the reviewer automatically. The preparer can't make further changes until the reviewer acts (or until the preparer withdraws the submission).

Withdrawing

Caught a mistake before the reviewer acted? Pull it back:

1. Find the entry in your Pending list
2. Click Withdraw
3. The entry reverts to Draft. Fix it and resubmit.

The Approval Queue

Users in roles configured as approvers — typically Manager, Partner, or Admin — see the approval queue. Open it from:

1. Journal Entries
2. Click the Approval Queue tab

The queue lists entries awaiting review, oldest first. Each row shows date, preparer, description, total, and any submitter note.

Filtering

• By preparer — only entries from a specific team member
• By date range — focus on a specific accounting period
• By amount — pull entries above or below a dollar threshold

Approving & Rejecting

Approving

1. Click a queue row to open the entry
2. Read every line — accounts, amounts, description, preparer note
3. If it's right, click Approve
4. Optionally add an approval comment
5. Click Confirm — the entry posts to the ledger immediately

Posted entries show up in the general ledger and every financial report.

Rejecting

1. Open the entry
2. Click Reject
3. Enter a rejection reason — Kantivo blocks the reject without one
4. Click Confirm Rejection

The entry returns to Draft and the preparer sees your comment on the entry itself. They can fix it and resubmit. The full chain — original submission, rejection, comment — is permanently logged either way.

Audit Trail & Export

Every status change on every entry is recorded — creation, submission, withdrawal, approval, rejection, resubmission, posting, override. The log is permanent and tamper-proof.

Viewing the History

Open any entry and click History to see the full chain:

Exporting

1. Open Journal Entries and set your date range
2. Click Export → tick Include Approval History
3. Pick CSV or PDF
4. Kantivo generates a file listing every entry plus its preparer, reviewer, all dates, and all comment text

Configuration

Set up approval at Settings → Accounting Controls → Journal Entry Approval.

Master Toggle

Flip Require Approval Before Posting on to enable the workflow for the current company. When off, users with posting rights post directly without review.

Per-Role Configuration

Pick which roles must have their entries approved and which can act as approvers. Defaults:

Override the defaults in Settings — tighten or loosen for any role.

Admin Override

Admins can post any entry without approval via Post Without Approval on the entry detail. Kantivo requires a reason; the override event, the admin's name, and the reason are written to the audit trail with a distinct label so auditors can find and review them.

FAQ

Can the preparer see who rejected and why?

Yes — the rejection comment and reviewer name are visible on the entry as soon as the rejection processes. The preparer doesn't have to chase anyone for feedback.

What if a posted entry needs correcting?

Posted entries aren't directly editable — that's standard double-entry hygiene. To correct, create a reversing entry that offsets the original, then create a corrected entry. Both go through approval like any new entry.

Does turning approval on retroactively affect existing entries?

No. Already-posted entries stay as-is. The setting applies only to entries created after it's enabled. Drafts still in the system will need approval before they can post.

Which Kantivo tier includes approval workflow?

Included in Professional and above. Starter doesn't include it — see Settings → License & Billing to upgrade.

Can submissions notify a specific approver?

Currently submissions notify all eligible approvers in the company. Per-approver routing is on the roadmap; send Kantivo support a note if it's a blocker.