When an expense stays in pending, it delays reimbursement and creates noise for finance. Below is a concise troubleshooting and resolution guide you can follow in Factorial.

Quick checklist - first things to check

1. Check the expense status (Pending, Changes requested, Approved, Rejected).
2. Look at the next approver shown in the expense details (person or role).
3. Confirm the approver can see notifications (in-app inbox, email, push).
4. Verify the approver is active in Factorial and assigned to the correct role or team.
5. Check whether the employee is assigned to an approval flow.

Why expenses get stuck

• Expense is in Changes requested state and waiting for employee action.
• Approver never received or missed the notification.
• Approver is not correctly mapped (role based approver, but employee not in that team or manager not set).
• Approver is inactive, on leave, or no delegate is set.
• Approval flow is misconfigured or the employee is not assigned to any flow.
• System error or bug (rare).

Step-by-step troubleshooting

1. Identify who is blocking

• Open the expense, check “next approver” and the approval level.
• If it says Changes requested, the request comment will explain what the employee must do.

2. Contact the approver directly

• Send a short message asking them to review the pending item in Factorial, and check spam/junk for email notifications.
• Remind them they can approve from the in-app inbox or mobile app.

3. If the approver cannot see the expense

• Verify the approver type:
  • Manager → check the employee’s manager field in their profile.
  • Team or Team Lead → check the employee’s team assignment and the team lead mapping.
  • Time-off approver → ensure that role is configured for this employee.
  • Admins → admins should have access to approve if assigned that role.
• If a role-based approver is empty because of a missing team/manager, assign the correct team or manager or temporarily change the approver to a person.

4. Approver is away or inactive

• Use a delegate or alternate approver for holidays and leave.
• If you do not have delegation set up, temporarily assign the employee to a different flow that includes an available approver (admin or team lead).

5. Employee needs to act

• If the expense is “Changes requested”, ask employee to update the receipt, description, or reimbursable amount and resubmit.

6. Admin intervention (use with care)

• As an admin, you can:
  • Reassign the employee to a different approval flow temporarily, or
  • Change the approval level to include Admins so finance can clear urgent items.
• Caution: resetting an expense approval flow or forcing approval may require re-approval steps and should be logged for audit.

7. System issues

• If everything looks correct but the expense still does not move:
  • Reproduce the issue in another browser or incognito to rule out cached UI problems.
  • Collect expense ID, screenshots, and exact steps, then contact Factorial Support.

Preventive actions

• Give flows clear names and descriptions so admins know which employees each flow covers.
• Use role-based approvers but ensure team and manager data is kept up to date.
• Set alternate approvers or delegation for common absence periods.
• Keep approval chains short, typically 1-2 levels, to reduce bottlenecks.
• Encourage approvers to enable notifications and check in-app inbox regularly.

When to contact Factorial Support

• If the approver is active and correctly mapped, but the expense UI shows inconsistent states or errors.
• Provide: expense ID, screenshots of the expense detail and approval flow, approver name, and time of the incident.