ApprovalMax launches bill pay workflow for QuickBooks

ApprovalMax has launched ApprovalMax Pay for QuickBooks Online customers in the US, combining bill approval and payment in a single workflow.

The rollout gives US finance teams a way to approve and pay vendor bills within ApprovalMax, rather than moving from an approval tool to a separate bank portal or payment system.

The US launch follows use of the same payment product in the UK, where businesses have paid more than £98 million through the service. The new US offering is available now to ApprovalMax customers that use QuickBooks Online.

ApprovalMax is targeting a common gap in finance departments: the split between approval and payment. In many businesses, a bill is reviewed and authorised in one system, then entered again into a bank portal or another payment tool. That creates a break in the audit trail and widens the number of people who may need access to company funds.

The system links each payment to the approved bill and, where relevant, its purchase order. Approved bill data carries into the payment workflow, reducing the need for staff to enter the same information again before money is sent.

The US version supports payments to domestic vendors by ACH or Real-Time Payments, either individually or in batches. Users fund payments through pre-funded wallets, which can support payments in more than 30 currencies through local payment rails.

The product uses role-based permissions to separate who can prepare, approve and release payments. It also requires two-factor authentication before a payment is released. Vendor payment details are checked against the last successful payment, and any new or changed details are flagged before funds are sent.

If a bill is changed after approval, it must be approved again before payment can proceed. Completed payments also sync back into QuickBooks Online so the record remains connected through reconciliation.

Control focus

The launch reflects a broader push by finance software suppliers to tighten accounts payable controls while reducing manual work. For smaller and mid-sized businesses in particular, payment approvals often still depend on email sign-off, spreadsheet tracking or paper-based checks, leaving gaps in oversight.

Founded in 2014, ApprovalMax focuses on accounts payable automation for finance teams, accountants and bookkeepers using Xero, QuickBooks Online and Oracle NetSuite. Its software is used by more than 20,000 organisations globally.

Cost is also part of the US pitch. There is no additional subscription, maintenance fee or wallet holding fee for Pay, and USD wallet top-ups are free. Transaction fees are shown before payment.

The product is designed to sit alongside existing payment methods rather than requiring businesses to replace them. That may matter for finance teams that want tighter control over selected payment flows while keeping other banking arrangements in place.

ApprovalMax announced the product at Intuit Connect in Las Vegas, tying the launch to the QuickBooks ecosystem where many of its US customers already work. QuickBooks Online is one of the main accounting platforms used by small businesses in the US, making it a significant route to market for workflow and accounts payable software suppliers.

Konstantin Bredyuk, Chief Executive Officer of ApprovalMax, described the launch as an extension of the company's original approval product into the payment stage.

"ApprovalMax started with one job: making sure every bill is approved exactly as a business's rules say.

"With ApprovalMax Pay, those rules no longer stop at approval. Finance teams can take a bill from approval to payment in one controlled workflow, with one record of who approved it and who released the money.

"UK businesses have already paid more than £98 million through ApprovalMax Pay, and bringing it to the US is a big step towards our goal of giving finance teams robust control over accounts payable from start to finish," said Bredyuk.