Authorized Approvers

Authorized approvers are identified by their position within the unit and assigned approval responsibilities by the Chief Business Officer, Academic Finance Lead, or Banner Finance Liaisons. For documents submitted in Ellucian Workflow and charged to a Sponsored program, the approver will be the PIs/Co-PIs listed on the award records in Banner.

Levels of Approval Authority

Higher ORG Approval: Individuals who are active in authorizing transaction for an entire unit. Approval authority may be granted at a higher Org level (such as, FA4). Examples may include the Chief Business Officer, Administrative Unit Director, or Finance Director. 

Additional Org Approver: Individuals who are authorized to approve Accounts Payable Requests and Invoices for a defined level 5 (L5) Org. Maximum of three individuals may be listed AND any of the individuals may approve an Accounts Payable request/invoice. Approval from all three is not required. 

Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator: Individuals defined on the sponsored fund/grant who are authorized to approve Accounts Payable Requests and Invoices. Includes all individuals listed as PI or CO-PI on the sponsored fund/grant.

Accounts Payable Request and Invoice Examples:

• Accounts Payable requests, currently being converted to Ellucian Workflow (Honorarium, Revenue Refund, Scholarships, Participant Support, Externally Funded Fellowships, etc.)
• Non-PO based invoices for services such as Sodexo catering, Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc.
• Blanket PO Invoices, such as Greystone, that require a Unit Org for payment

AUTH(1-3) – MFG AUTH Approver: Individuals who are authorized to approve Accounts Payable requests/invoices AND are the designated level 5 (L5) Org approvers for all travel and expense reimbursements submitted in the Mason Finance Gateway (MFG). This includes all sponsored/non-sponsored Funds that roll up to the L5 Org in the MFG. One individual required. Maximum of three individuals may be listed AND all three must approve each transaction in the MFG, in addition to the employees supervisor. To streamline the administrative approval process in the MFG we discourage designating multiple MFG AUTH Approvers. 

Authorized Approver Lookup Tool

The Authorized Approver Lookup tool provides a consolidated list of approvers based on the Org or Fund entered. This is an informational tool for departments to ensure the appropriate person has approved a payment, expense, or reimbursement. At least one of the approvers listed in the Lookup must provide approval on Accounts Payable Requests/Invoices. All listed MFG AUTH Approvers (1-3) must approve in sequence any transactions submitted through the Mason Finance Gateway (MFG).