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Overview

Everyone in a business has one role. The role decides what appears in the sidebar and what you are allowed to do. Roles are set in Settings > Workspace > Team, and only Administrators can change them.

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The five roles

There is no Owner role. Everything an owner would need, including billing and the ability to change who has access, belongs to Administrator.

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Approving and paying are separate on purpose

A Manager can approve an expense report but cannot reimburse it. Releasing money is limited to Finance Admins and Administrators. This is deliberate. It means no single person can both authorise a claim and pay it, which is the control most auditors look for. It is also the reason a Manager who has approved a report still sees it sitting there afterwards: it is waiting on finance, not on them.

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Why your sidebar looks different from a colleague’s

The business section of the sidebar only appears if your role gives you access to something in it. A Member has access to none of it, which is why they see only Dashboard, Mileage Trips, Expenses, and Expense Reports. The same applies inside Settings. A Finance Admin sees Categories, Departments, and Employees. A Member sees only Vehicles and Delegation, because those two are personal rather than business-wide. This is also why the sidebar can change when you switch between businesses. Your role is per business, so being an Administrator in one grants you nothing in another. See Switching between businesses.

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Common questions

Those need Finance Admin or Administrator. Managers and Members do not have them. Ask an Administrator if you need access.
You are a Manager. Approval and payment are split, so the report now needs a Finance Admin or Administrator to pay it out.
Only Administrators can invite people or change roles. Finance Admins cannot, even though they can change most other settings.
This is a known limitation. Finance Admins can approve and reimburse other people’s reports but cannot submit or delete their own.If your controllers also need to claim their own expenses, contact Smartbills support. Do not work around it by making them an Administrator, since that grants far more than they need.
Use delegation rather than changing their role. It lets them act for you temporarily, keeps the record of who did what, and is easy to undo. See Delegation.

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Change someone’s role

1

Open team settings

Go to Settings > Workspace > Team.
2

Pick the person and the new role

The change takes effect straight away.
To add someone new, use Invite and choose their role at the same time. Only Administrators can do this.

Invite team members

Add people to your business

Delegation

Let someone act for you

Audit log

Check who approved or paid something

Switching businesses

Why your access differs per business