UK-based accounts payable automation provider ApprovalMax has launched ApprovalMax Pay for US QuickBooks Online users. The service brings bill approval and payment into a single workflow, so the controls that govern bill approval also apply to the release of funds. Since 2025, UK businesses have made more than GBP 98 million in payments through ApprovalMax Pay.
One audit trail from approval to payment
Many US finance teams approve bills in one system and pay them in another, which makes it harder to keep a continuous audit trail and control who can release funds. ApprovalMax Pay links each payment to the approved bill and, where applicable, its purchase order, carrying approved bill data into the payment workflow. Completed payments sync back to QuickBooks Online, connecting the record from approval through to reconciliation.
Users pay bills from pre-funded wallets that support payments in more than 30 currencies through local payment rails, and can pay US vendors by ACH or Real-Time Payments (RTP), individually or in batches. The service works alongside existing payment methods rather than replacing them. Role-based permissions separate who prepares, approves, and releases payments, and two-factor authentication is required to release funds. Any changes made to a bill after approval must be re-approved before payment.
Fraud controls and pricing
Bank portals can give staff wider access to funds than needed, and cheques can be intercepted or altered. ApprovalMax checks vendor payment details against the last successful payment and flags new or changed details before funds are released. There are no extra subscription or wallet fees, and transaction fees are shown before payment. In October 2026, ApprovalMax also launched Approval Intelligence, an AI layer that highlights unusual supplier bills to approvers.
Konstantin Bredyuk, CEO of ApprovalMax, said the company started by ensuring every bill is approved according to each business's rules, and that with ApprovalMax Pay those rules extend from approval to payment, with one record of who approved a bill and who released the money. Founded in 2014, ApprovalMax provides approval automation to more than 20,000 organisations using Xero, QuickBooks Online, and Oracle NetSuite.
