Who Can Raise, Approve and Pay in Procurement
Accountants raise, receive and pay; only Administrators approve purchase orders and bills; Directors view; nobody but an Administrator can approve their own work.
For School administrators, Accountants, Directors and proprietors. Updated 2026-10-09.
Overview
Permissions: the “view procurement” permission lets Administrator, Accountant and Director open the page, suppliers, orders, bills, ageing and statements. the “add procurement” permission (Administrator, Accountant) adds suppliers, purchase orders and bills. the “edit procurement” permission (Administrator, Accountant) edits suppliers and draft orders, submits, cancels, closes and receives orders, and pays bills. the “approve procurement” permission (Administrator only) approves or sends back purchase orders, approves bills and voids bills.
Petty cash has its own permissions: the “add pettycash” permission, update and approve are held by Administrators and Accountants; Directors have the “view pettycash” permission only. Teachers, employees and other staff roles do not see Procurement.
Before you start
- Know the user's account type under People > Staff or Settings
Steps
- Ask the user which exact button or message they see
- Confirm their role (Administrator, Accountant or Director)
- Check the permission list for the action in this entry
- If a change is needed, an administrator updates the role or uses an administrator to approve
Common problems
I am an Accountant and cannot approve a purchase order or bill
Approval needs the “approve procurement” permission, which is limited to the Administrator by design.
The Director can see Procurement but all buttons are missing
Directors have read-only access to procurement, petty cash and budgets.
The approver is told someone else must approve
They created the item. Another approver must approve it unless the person is an Administrator.