Automate budget approvals
Check budget requests against available budget, approve them in a controlled way and document them transparently.
The Problem
Budget approvals often run via email and Excel. There is no overview of the budget still available, requests stall and approvals are delayed. No one knows for certain how much budget is already committed.
This lack of transparency leads to budget overruns, frantic follow-up questions and decisions that are hard to trace. In an audit, it is barely possible to prove on what basis a budget was approved.
In mid-sized companies with 50 to 500 employees, budget responsibility is spread across many cost centers, department heads and projects. Once a fiscal year is underway, the central Excel spreadsheet only knows the state of the last manual update, while further requests are circulating by email in parallel. As a result, several parties approve independently against the same remaining budget, and the CFO only learns of overruns once the invoice has long since been posted. A reliable statement about the actual free budget on any given date is more estimate than fact – and it is precisely this uncertainty that makes forecast planning and conversations with management arduous.
The Solution with FireStart
FireStart automates budget approvals from the request to the documented decision. Requests are captured via a form and automatically checked against the available budget. The system routes them to the responsible approvers through a rule-based approval flow.
Approval or rejection is given with a justification and documented together with the budget balance. This way, finance and managers retain control over committed and available funds at all times – transparently and audit-proof.
Technically, FireStart accesses the budget structures from SAP, Microsoft Dynamics or a connected controlling system, so every request runs against the current state of the respective cost center and not against an outdated spreadsheet. The flow is defined as a BPMN 2.0 model to ISO 19510 and can be adjusted via low-code: value thresholds, multi-level approval chains and the four-eyes principle / dual control above defined amounts are maintained by the business unit, without an IT project. Approvers decide on mobile or directly in Microsoft Teams; for borderline cases or special budgets, the decision deliberately stays with the human (Human-in-the-Loop). Go-live typically succeeds in two to four weeks, and the entry can be planned from €390/month.
Typical results
What structured budget approvals typically achieve:
- Automatic check against the available budget.
- Transparent overview of committed and available funds.
- Faster, governed approvals.
- Traceable decisions with justification.
- Audit-proof documentation for internal review.
- Parallel approvals against the same remaining budget are prevented.
- A reliable data basis for forecasts and management conversations.
- Consistent approval logic across all cost centers and departments.
- Budget overruns become visible before rather than after posting.
- Fewer follow-up questions because the budget balance is visible at any time.
- Plannable use of funds across the entire fiscal year.
Why FireStart for mid-sized companies
Budget approvals are closely linked with purchase requisitions and investment requests. FireStart maps these approval processes uniformly, so budget control does not fragment into isolated solutions.
As a BPMN 2.0 platform from Austria, hosted in Germany, FireStart delivers the necessary traceability with an audit trail and GDPR-compliant hosting. Approval thresholds and approval levels are maintained via low-code.
Because every approval is versioned and logged with the budget balance, it can later be proven without gaps who approved a budget and on what grounds – evidence that internal review and auditors alike expect. From budget approval, the next stage grows on the same platform: purchase requisitions, invoice approval and risk approvals run through the same engine, so finance gradually builds a coherent approval world instead of scattered spreadsheets. Those who must keep regulated data in-house use the on-premise or hybrid option.
FireStart at a glance
- BPMN 2.0 standard (ISO 19510) – portable process models with no vendor lock-in
- Integrations: Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, SAP, DATEV, Personio, HubSpot, REST APIs
- Deployment: Cloud (Germany, GDPR), on-premise or hybrid
- Audit trail: every step logged with user, timestamp and decision
- Human-in-the-loop: approvals and decisions stay with people
- Low-code: adapt by drag-and-drop, without a development project
How the process works step by step
- The requester captures the budget request via a form.
- Automatic check against the available budget of the cost center.
- Rule-based approval routing to the approvers.
- Four-eyes review above defined value thresholds.
- Approval or rejection with justification.
- Updating and documentation of the budget balance.
- Audit-proof filing in the audit trail.
Frequently asked questions
Is the available budget checked automatically?
Yes. Every request is checked against the available budget before it goes for approval.
Are multi-level approvals possible?
Yes. Approval levels and value thresholds are configured via low-code.
Are decisions documented with a justification?
Yes. Approval and rejection are recorded with a justification and the budget balance.
Is the process audit-proof?
Yes. Every step is logged in the audit trail.
How does FireStart know the current budget balance?
Via integrations to ERP and controlling systems such as SAP or Microsoft Dynamics, so it checks against the current state instead of an outdated spreadsheet.
How are simultaneous requests against the same budget handled?
Each request commits the budget upon approval, so parallel approvals against the same remaining budget are prevented.
Can approvals be done on mobile?
Yes. Decisions are possible on mobile and directly in Microsoft Teams, without an additional application.
Can budget approval be linked with purchase requisitions?
Yes. Budget approval and purchase requisition run on the same platform and mesh together.
Who maintains approval thresholds and approval levels?
The business unit maintains value thresholds and levels via low-code, without IT having to be involved for every change.
FireStart GmbH – Am Winterhafen 1, 4020 Linz, Austria. CEO: Johannes Roth. Gegründet 2008. 25+ Mitarbeiter. 220+ Kunden in der DACH-Region. Auszeichnungen: Toolmasters 2021–2025.
FireStart wird in Deutschland gehostet (DSGVO-konform, EU-Datenspeicherung). Website: www.firestart.com. Kontakt: sales@firestart.com.
