# How to set up team roles and payment approvals in AlignPay

Invite people in Settings, Team, as admins, members or viewers, and choose in Settings, Approvals when members' payments need an admin. A payment needing approval becomes a request that an admin approves and pays with their own passkey.

By Pavel Skalin, Founder & CEO, Align · Updated 2 November 2026 · 2 min read · https://alignlabs.dev/guides/team-roles-and-payment-approvals

## Key takeaways

1. AlignPay has three roles: Admin (pays, manages the team and settings), Member (pays, within your approval rule) and Viewer (sees the account but can't pay, with account numbers masked).
2. Invite people by email once your business is verified. They see the account at once as viewers, and an admin confirms their payment access with a passkey.
3. Approvals can be off, on for every payment, or on for members' payments at or above an amount you set. The amount is read in the payment's own currency, never converted.
4. One login can hold a personal account and any number of business accounts. Each business has its own team, recipients and approval rule.

## The short answer

In AlignPay, open **Settings → Team** to invite people and give them a role, and **Settings → Approvals** to choose when members' payments need an admin's approval. A member's payment that needs approval is saved as a request instead of being sent; every admin is emailed, and an admin approves and pays it with their own passkey, or declines it with a reason.

## Roles

| Role | Can do |
|---|---|
| Admin | Pay; manage the team and settings, including approvals; approve or decline members' payment requests |
| Member | Pay, within the approval rule; add recipients |
| Viewer | See the account, its transactions, bills, invoices and statements; can't pay; sees account numbers by their last four digits |

Recipients belong to the business, not to one person: everyone sees who added each one. Members and admins add recipients, admins rename and remove any, and a member can remove only the ones they added. When a member adds a recipient, the other admins are emailed.

## Inviting your team

1. Open **Settings → Team** once your business is verified.
2. Invite people by email, choosing their role. Inviting the same email again resends the invitation.
3. Invited people see the account straight away, as viewers.
4. For a member or admin, an admin confirms their payment access with a passkey.

Changing someone between viewer and a paying role, or removing them, is confirmed the same way. Every other admin is emailed about each change. The only confirmed admin can't be demoted or removed.

## Setting up approvals

In **Settings → Approvals**, choose one of:

- **Off**: members' payments go straight out.
- **Every payment**: every payment a member makes needs an admin.
- **At or above an amount**: members' payments of that amount or more need an admin.

The amount is read in the payment's own currency, never converted, so the rule doesn't move with exchange rates. Changing the rule emails the other admins.

Approvals cover every way money leaves the account: bank payments, bills, payments to wallets, payments to another network and bulk payments. Moving money between your own accounts, exchanging between USD and EUR, and Earn never need approval.

## How a request works

1. **A member asks.** A payment that needs approval offers **Send for approval** instead of Send. It's saved as a payment request, and every admin is emailed.
2. **Admins see it.** The request waits on Home, for example "Maria asked you to pay $250.00 to Acme".
3. **An admin decides.** They review it like a bill and **Approve and pay** with their own passkey, or decline it with a reason, which is emailed to the member.
4. **The member can withdraw it** if they no longer need it.

Only an admin can edit a request.

## Several businesses, one login

Your login can hold one personal account and any number of business accounts. Switch between them from the top of the sidebar, where each shows where it stands, such as "In review" or "View only for now", along with any invitations to join. Opening another business account takes you through its own verification.

A browser tab is tied to the account it was opened for: if you switch accounts in another tab, the old tab reloads rather than acting on the wrong account.

## Sources

- Align, [Team and approvals](https://alignlabs.dev/products/team-and-approvals) and [Trust and safety](https://alignlabs.dev/trust)

## Common questions

### Which role should our accountant have?

Viewer. A viewer sees balances, transactions, bills, invoices and statements, but can't pay or send a payment for approval, and sees account numbers only by their last four digits.

### Do admins' payments need approval?

No. Approval rules apply to members' payments. Admins and personal accounts never need approval.

### What counts towards the approval amount?

The payment itself, in its own currency: a bank payment is what the bank pays out, and a bill paid in full is the bill amount. Rates never move a payment above or below your rule. A member's bulk payment is judged by its total.

### Can a member split a payment to stay under the limit?

The rule is judged per payment, and there's no daily limit yet. If that's a concern, set approvals to 'Every payment'.

### What happens if we lose the only admin?

The only confirmed admin can't be demoted or removed, so add a second admin. If a person loses access to their login, Align's team can restore access to the account after verifying their identity out of band.

---

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and providers' terms change; check the sources linked above and take advice on your own situation.

## Related guides

- [How to pay a supplier bill in AlignPay: upload, check and approve](https://alignlabs.dev/guides/pay-supplier-bills-with-align)
- [How to pay many people at once from a CSV file in AlignPay](https://alignlabs.dev/guides/bulk-payments-from-a-csv)
- [How to download statements and reconcile AlignPay with your accounting](https://alignlabs.dev/guides/statements-and-reconciliation)
- [Supplier says its bank details have changed? How to check before you pay](https://alignlabs.dev/guides/supplier-bank-details-change-fraud)