How Do I Set Up Dual Authorisation for Payments?

Dual authorisation adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second person to approve a payment before it's processed. This is ideal for businesses that want additional oversight on outgoing payments.

How dual authorisation works

Dual authorisation always requires two different people - whichever person creates a payment cannot also authorise it themselves, even if they're the named authoriser. Because of this rule, how many authorisers you need depends on whether the authoriser will also be making payments themselves:

• You're the authoriser only, and won't be making payments yourself: you can be set up as the sole authoriser. Whenever someone else on your account creates a payment, you approve it. You wouldn't be able to make any payments yourself in this setup - if that changes later, we can update your settings.
• You're the authoriser, but also need to make payments yourself: you'll need a second person set up as an alternate authoriser. This is because you can't authorise your own payments, even as the named authoriser - so your alternate would need to approve any payments you create.

In short: an authoriser only needs an alternate if they also need to make payments themselves, since their own payments still require someone else's approval.

What happens once enabled

When dual authorisation is enabled on a bank account, new payments are created in an "Awaiting Dual Authorisation" state rather than being processed immediately. These payments remain on hold until an authorised user reviews and approves or declines them.

Two grids appear on the account once dual authorisation is enabled:

• Payments Awaiting Dual Authorisation - shows all payments pending approval.
• Declined Dual Authorised Payments - shows payments that have been declined.

Authorised users can select multiple payments and choose to:

• Authorise - the payment moves to "Created - Awaiting Processing" and proceeds through normal payment processing.
• Decline - the payment remains in the declined grid and will not be processed.

Key points

• Payments awaiting dual authorisation are not picked up by payment batches.
• Payments are not created with your banking provider (Modulr/Griffin) until authorised.
• Declined payments cannot be converted to fast payments and must be recreated if needed.
• Only users with matching staff access can authorise or decline payments.

Enabling dual authorisation

To enable dual authorisation on your account, contact the Calmony support team. We'll configure the appropriate authoriser settings based on your requirements, including whether you need one authoriser or an authoriser plus an alternate, as explained above.

Internal guide

Dual Authorisation - Setup Instructions

When a client requests dual authorisation:

1. Head to Overview on the client's account → Edit (top right corner) → Dual Payment Authorisation
2. Assign the designated authoriser
3. Optionally, set the Alternate Dual Payment Authoriser field as well, if a secondary authoriser is required (see client-facing article for when this is needed). 
4. Confirm with the client that the feature is now active.

Payment states

Processing workflow

1. User creates a payment on an account with dual authorisation enabled.
2. Payment enters 'Awaiting Dual Authorisation' state.
3. Payment appears in the 'Payments Awaiting Dual Authorisation' grid.
4. Authorised staff member reviews the payment.
5. If authorised: payment moves to 'Created - Awaiting Processing' and follows standard processing.
6. If declined: payment moves to 'Declined Dual Authorised Payments' grid.

Troubleshooting

• Payments not appearing in dual auth grid: verify the Dual Payment Authoriser or Alternate Dual Payment Authoriser field is set on the bank account.
• User cannot authorise payments: check that the user's staff access matches the authoriser setting on the bank account (Owner or Finance)
• Client wants to process a declined payment: declined payments cannot be converted. The payment must be recreated from scratch.