Staff payment requests

How a staff member raises a payment request, and how finance codes it to a category and forwards it into the approval chain.

A staff payment request is the way any colleague in your organisation can ask for a payment to be made — to a supplier, an individual, a beneficiary, or a member of staff — without touching the finance side of it. The requester describes what needs paying and to whom; the accountant then codes it to an expense category and forwards it into the same approval chain as a payment voucher.

This keeps the two jobs separate. A colleague in Marketing or IT raises the request in plain language and never has to know your category register or how the money is tracked. Finance owns the coding, the balance check, and the approval routing. The result is the same as a payment voucher — it just starts from a request instead of being created by finance directly.

How it flows

A staff member submits the request

They fill in what needs paying, the amount, the recipient, and how the money should be sent. They may suggest a category, but they don't have to.

Finance picks it up in the inbox

The request lands in the Payment requests inbox under the To review tab, where the accountant can open it.

Finance codes and forwards it

The accountant assigns the expense category (and an expense label), confirms the amount, and presses Code & forward. WAQAF creates the payment voucher and sends it into the approval chain. If something is wrong, the accountant can instead Return it with a note.

The fixed chain every forwarded request then follows is Accountant → Finance Manager → CEO → Treasurer — the same chain as any payment voucher. See The expense approval workflow.

Part 1 — Submitting a request (any staff member)

Who can do this. Anyone who is a member of your organisation can submit a payment request — it isn't limited to finance roles, because the whole point is to let any colleague ask for a payment. You only need to be signed in to the organisation, with the Finance area switched on.

Where to find it. Finance → Payment requests → New request (or Request a payment from the Finance area).

Before you start

Have these to hand:

The amount, in Omani Rial. WAQAF money is OMR to 3 decimals (1 OMR = 1000 baisa), so 200.000 means exactly two hundred rial.
Who is being paid — their name, and whether they are a vendor, an individual, a beneficiary, or staff.
How to pay them — either bank details (IBAN or account number), or, for a cash payment, the recipient's national ID and phone number.
Any supporting documents — a quote, an invoice, or context — to attach.

Fill in the request

Open the request form

Go to Finance → Payment requests and choose New request, or use Request a payment. A short panel at the top shows the approval chain the request will travel once it's forwarded, so everyone can see where it's headed.

Describe the request

Fill in:

Department — the team the spend belongs to (Marketing, Sponsorships, IT, Quality, CEO Office, Projects, or Education). If you pick Projects, a Project field appears and is required.
Urgency — Normal, Soon, Urgent, or Critical. This helps finance prioritise; it doesn't change the approval steps.
Title — a short name for the payment.
Description — what the money is for, in your own words.

The New request form showing the Department and Urgency selectors, Title, and DescriptionScreenshot to be added

Enter the amount and recipient

Amount (OMR) to three decimals (the box shows 0.000 until you type).
Recipient type — Vendor, Individual, Beneficiary, or Staff.
Recipient name — who actually receives the money.
Recipient email (optional) — used later to email the paid-voucher receipt.

You can also set the country and city the spend relates to, if relevant.

Choose how to pay

Pick the Payment method:

Bank transfer — then enter the Bank details (IBAN or account number).
Cash — then enter the recipient's National ID and Phone.

The form asks only for the fields the chosen method needs.

Suggest a category (optional) and attach documents

If you know roughly which budget this should come from, you can note a suggested category — but it's only a hint. The accountant decides the real coding, and they can apply your suggestion with one click or choose a different category entirely.

Attach any supporting files (quote, invoice, context) so finance has what it needs to code the request.

Submit

Press Submit request. The request is saved and appears in the finance inbox under To review. You don't pick a fund, a status, or an approver — finance takes it from here.

You won't see balances or coding here. Submitting a request never touches the ledger and never reveals any fund or category balance. Nothing is posted to the accounts until finance codes and forwards it.

Part 2 — Coding and forwarding (finance)

This is the finance side. The request sits in the inbox until an accountant codes it into a payment voucher.

Who can do this. To see the inbox you need a finance role that grants read — the Accountant, Finance Manager, CEO, or Auditor. To actually code & forward (or return) a request you need create — typically the Accountant or Finance Manager (an owner or admin too). A CEO or Auditor can read the inbox but won't see the Code & forward controls. If a button is missing, your role doesn't allow it; see Members & roles.

Where to find it. Finance → Payment requests.

Work through the inbox

Open the inbox and find the request

Go to Finance → Payment requests. Requests are grouped into three tabs:

To review — newly submitted, waiting to be coded.
Returned — sent back to the requester for changes.
Forwarded — already coded into a voucher and in the approval chain.

Use the search box, the department and urgency filters, and the sort control to find the one you want, then click its row to open the detail panel.

The Payment requests inbox with the To review / Returned / Forwarded tabs and the requests tableScreenshot to be added

Review the request

The detail panel shows the requester and department, the amount, the recipient and payment method, the suggested category (if any), the submitted date, the description, and any attachments. Read it against what's been requested before you code it.

Code it to a category

In the Code & forward section, choose the Expense category the spend belongs to. If the requester suggested one, you'll see it with a Use button to apply it as a starting point — but the choice is yours.

You must also set an Expense label (this is required), and, where the category is a Zakat category, pick the relevant asnaf (Zakat recipient group).

The Code & forward panel with the expense-category picker, the suggested-category Use button, and the expense-label fieldScreenshot to be added

Handle a shortfall with a deduct line (if needed)

The coded amount must equal the requested amount exactly. If the chosen category doesn't hold enough to cover the whole request, add a deduct line: a second category that covers the remainder. The two lines must sum to the total, and you give a short split reason explaining the overflow.

As an accountant you may not see the figures. Viewing fund and category balances is restricted to roles such as Finance Manager, CEO, and Auditor. If your role can't see balances, WAQAF shows you a simple enough / not enough badge against the category instead of the number — enough to know whether to add a deduct line, without revealing the running total. That's by design. See Balances & privacy.

Forward it

Press Code & forward. WAQAF creates the payment voucher, links it back to this request, gives it a voucher reference, and sends it into the approval chain at the Finance Manager step. The request moves to the Forwarded tab, and the detail panel stays open showing the new voucher and its progress through the chain.

Returning a request instead

If the request can't be coded as it stands — wrong amount, missing document, unclear purpose — don't force it through. Open it, write a short note in the Return note field saying what needs to change, and press Return. The request moves to the Returned tab with your note attached, so the requester can see exactly what to fix and resubmit.

You can't return a request once it's been forwarded. Returning is only for requests still awaiting coding. After Code & forward creates the voucher, the request is locked to that voucher — a mistake from then on is corrected on the voucher, through the approval chain or a reversing entry, never by editing or deleting the request. Ledger entries are never deleted. See The expense approval workflow.

What the coded amount must do

WAQAF will not let a coded request through unless the coded allocations add up to the exact requested amount. If they don't, the Code & forward button stays blocked and the panel tells you the total they must reach. This guarantees that the voucher finance creates is for precisely what was requested — no rounding, no silent top-ups, no shortfalls.