Most organizations don't let any manager approve any amount. A delegated authority matrix specifies, by role or title, exactly what each person can sign off on: a team lead might approve up to $5,000 in their own cost center, while anything over $100,000 requires a VP or above, regardless of category.

For an AI agent processing approvals, this matrix is the actual policy engine: before auto-approving a purchase requisition or invoice, it checks whether the assigned approver is genuinely authorized for that dollar amount, category, and cost center, not just whether someone with an approval-sounding title clicked yes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does authority need to be role-specific rather than just amount-based?

Because the right approver for a $10,000 marketing spend and a $10,000 IT security purchase may be different people entirely, category, cost center, and dollar threshold typically all factor into who's actually authorized, not just the amount alone.

What happens if a requisition is approved by someone outside their delegated authority?

This is a control failure auditors specifically look for. A well-built system catches it before the transaction completes, flagging it for escalation to someone who does hold the correct authority, rather than letting an out-of-bounds approval stand.

How does this matrix stay current as an organization changes?

It needs to be updated whenever roles, thresholds, or organizational structure change, a stale matrix is a real operational risk, since it can either block legitimate approvers or, worse, still authorize someone who's left the role.

Can an AI agent hold its own delegated authority?

Yes, in the sense that it can be granted autonomous approval authority up to a defined threshold for well-established, low-risk transaction types, with everything above that threshold routed to the appropriately authorized human, the same structure applied to any other role in the matrix.