Separation of duties (also known as segregation of duties) for payment approvals ensures that team members can’t approve payments they’ve created. This control helps organizations strengthen internal oversight, reduce fraud risk, and meet audit or compliance requirements.
What is separation of duties?
By default, Mercury allows the same person to both create and approve a payment if per-payment approvals are enabled. If a team member is in the approval chain, they automatically fulfill their own approval. This is fast and convenient for small teams, but doesn’t work for organizations that need stricter oversight.
How it works
When the toggle is OFF (default)
- Payment creators will automatically approve their own payments, if they’re in the per-payment approval chain (either named individually, or as “Any Admin”)
When the toggle Is ON
- The creator is excluded from approving the payment
- If they were the only approver, Mercury blocks the payment from being submitted for approval
- Creators won’t receive approval notifications for their own payments
To enable separation of duties, head to Settings > Approvals and navigate to the Per-payment page.
Why it matters
Separation of duties is a key financial control for:
- Reducing fraud or error by requiring a second set of eyes on every payment
- Aligning with audit and compliance expectations (e.g. SOX for public companies)
- Unlocking the most commonly requested approval flow: “No matter who submits a payment, at least one other person must approve it.”
If you’re a growing organization, or already operate under formal financial policies, this helps you scale your controls. To learn more about how approvals work and the controls available, read more here.
Who can use separation of duties?
- Only admins can turn this setting on or off
- If you have dual admin approval enabled, changing this setting will require approval from a second admin
FAQs
Does separation of duties apply to reimbursements or daily max limits?
Not at this time. It currently applies only to per-payment approvals.
Will this change existing approvals or past payments?
No, separation of duties only applies to payments created after it’s turned on.
Can I apply separation of duties to only certain users or payment types?
Not yet. This is a global toggle for all payments in your organization.