How to create a budget approval workflow for team leads

Streamline budget approvals across your organization

In this guide, you’ll build a budget approval workflow that lets team leads submit expense or project budgets, routes them to finance or management for review, and tracks approval status in real time. Ideal for finance teams, department heads, and operations managers.
📘 Learn more: Create your first form, app, or portal in a flash

Step 1 — Create your budget request form

Start from your workspace and click + New → Form. You can start from scratch or use the Budget request approval portal template from the Template gallery.

Or use Magic Create, describe what you need:

“A budget request form that routes approvals automatically to team leads and finance managers.”

Why this matters: a single approval form reduces back-and-forth emails and ensures transparent financial tracking.
📘 Learn more: How to create any form using Magic Create in Formaloo

Step 2 — Add requester and project details

Include key fields that identify the request and context:

• Requester name and email
  
  
• Department / Team
  
  
• Project name or purpose
  
  
• Budget period (e.g., Q1, Q2, or specific month)
  
  
• Request date (auto-filled)
  
  

💡 Tip: use dropdowns for departments and pre-filled dates for consistency.
📘 Learn more: Form editor and field types

Step 3 — Add expense breakdown fields

Collect the full budget details in structured sections:

• Item description
  
  
• Category (Marketing, HR, Operations, etc.)
  
  
• Estimated cost
  
  
• Quantity or units
  
  
• Total cost (auto-calculated using variables)
  
  

Add an optional Justification or Expected ROI field for transparency.
📘 Learn more: How to use a variable with a formula

Step 4 — Calculate totals automatically

Use variable fields to calculate line-item totals and the full requested budget.

Example:

@item_total = @unit_cost * @quantity  

@grand_total = @item_total + @additional_expenses

‍

Show a summary dynamically at the end of the form:

“Total requested budget: $@grand_total.”
📘 Learn more: How to add and calculate scores using variable fields

Step 5 — Add approval fields (for reviewers only)

Add fields that are hidden from requesters (admin-only) and only visible to reviewers:

• Reviewer name / role
  
  
• Approval status (Pending / Approved / Rejected / Needs revision)
  
  
• Comments or feedback
  
  
• Approved budget amount
  
  

💡 Tip: reviewers can edit these fields later through the portal or directly in the submission.
📘 Learn more: How to edit forms and form responses

Step 6 — Add conditional logic for routing approvals

Go to Settings →  Advanced logic to route requests automatically:

• If Department = Marketing → Notify Marketing Lead.
  
  
• If Amount ≤ 1000 → Auto-approve by Manager.
  
  
• If Amount > 1000 → Send to Finance Team for review.
  
  
• If Amount > 10000 → Notify Director for secondary approval.
  
  

📘 Learn more: How to add advanced logic to your form

Step 7 — Automate notifications and approval emails

Open Settings → Advanced logic or Notify tab and set up:

• To requester: confirmation email with request ID (e.g., BUDG-@response_id).
  
  
• To reviewer: approval request with full details.
  
  
• To finance/admin: email when a request is approved.
  
  
• To requester: decision email (Approved / Rejected / Needs revision).
  
  

Use variables like @name, @grand_total, @approval_status, and @comments.
📘 Learn more: How to send and receive conditional email notifications

Step 8 — Enable on-update logic for approval flow

Use on-update logic so your workflow reacts as reviewers change statuses:

• When Status = Approved → Notify requester and Finance.
  
  
• When Status = Needs revision → Send editable form link to requester.
  
  
• When Status = Rejected → Log reason and close submission.
  📘 Learn more: What is on-update logic and how it works
  
  

Step 9 — Build your approval dashboard

In Results → Responses, create a live view of all budget requests:

• Table view: track all submissions with total cost and status.
  
  
• Kanban view: group by Pending, In Review, Approved, Rejected.
  
  
• Charts: visualize total budgets by department or approval rate.
  📘 Learn more: How to create a Kanban board
  
  

Step 10 — Create a portal for leads and finance

From your project, build a Budget Approval Portal.

Add pages such as:

• Submit new budget request
  
  
• My department’s requests (Team Lead view)
  
  
• All department budgets (Finance view)
  
  
• Approved budgets summary
  
  

Set access so:

• Team leads can submit and track their requests.
  
  
• Reviewers and finance can view and edit approval fields.
  📘 Learn more: How to create a portal and manage users’ access
  
  

Step 11 — Generate budget approval PDFs

Create a PDF template for approved requests:

• Requester and project details
  
  
• Approved amount and reviewer signature
  
  
• Approval date and status
  Attach it to confirmation emails automatically for record-keeping.
  📘 Learn more: How to generate custom PDFs using templates
  
  

Step 12 — Analyze spending trends with AI

Enable AI Analyze to automatically generate insights like:

• “Total approved budgets per quarter.”
  
  
• “Top departments by expenditure.”
  
  
• “Average approval time per request.”
  📘 Learn more: Uncover insights and trends in your data with AI Analyze
  
  

Pro tips

• Add linked rows to connect budget approvals with expense reports or project requests.
  
  
• Use conditional approval stages for multi-level workflows.
  
  
• Enable Memory Forms to auto-fill requester info for frequent submissions.
  📘 Learn more: What are linked rows and how to use them
  
  

Example scenario

A marketing lead submits a $5,000 campaign budget request. The form routes it to their department head, who approves it and triggers a finance notification. The system emails the requester a confirmation with a PDF approval summary, while the finance dashboard updates automatically with “Approved” status and budget totals by department.
📘 Learn more: Build personalized and time-saving flows with logic, automations, and AI

FAQ

1. Can I include multiple approval stages?
   Yes, create tiered logic to route requests to different approvers based on amount or department.
2. Can reviewers edit only certain fields?
   Absolutely, set role-based access in the portal so reviewers can only update approval fields.
3. Can I export approved budgets for accounting?
   Yes, export data to Excel or sync automatically with Google Sheets.
   📘 Learn more: How to export table data into Excel

Your approval system is live, make budgeting collaborative and transparent

You’ve built a complete budget approval workflow that routes, tracks, and reports approvals seamlessly. Keep refining it with automation, AI summaries, and role-based dashboards for a truly efficient financial process.
📘 Learn more: How to personalize ending pages and email notifications with AI

Last updated October 2025

‍