Payment approval, called bon à payer (BAP) in French finance teams, is the formal authorization, given by a person entitled to grant it, that a verified supplier invoice can be paid.
Payment approval sits between invoice verification and the payment run. It certifies that the goods or services were received, that the invoice is correct, and that the expense was committed by someone with the right to commit it. Once a stamp and a signature on the paper invoice, the bon à payer is now a step in an approval workflow, recorded with the approver's identity and the date.
A payment approval is only as strong as three conditions:
- the approver holds authority for that amount and category, as set in the delegation of authority
- the approver did not create the supplier or enter the invoice, in line with segregation of duties
- the approval rests on checks actually performed: price against the purchase order, quantity against the delivery note, bank details against supplier master data
Without the third condition, the bon à payer becomes a signature on trust: the approver confirms an invoice compared with nothing. Payment approval also differs from supplier invoice validation: validation checks the document, approval commits the company to pay it. Approval circuits are detailed in the article on supplier invoice approval workflow controls.
Phacet agents prepare the payment approval. Each invoice reaches the approver already checked against the purchase order, the delivery note, the contract and the supplier's bank details, with discrepancies listed and the reasoning visible. The agent that validates invoices before payment records the approval in the audit trail next to the checks it relied on, so the bon à payer is a decision on facts.
