Approval Form Template (Canada)

Updated on August 8, 2026

An approval form records someone asking for authority to commit the organization to something, and a named person deciding. It covers purchase commitments and expense claims, but also the approvals that never reach a finance system: signing off a document before it goes out, granting access to a system, approving a discount, agreeing time off, or waiving a policy for one case. Its value is not the signature — it is that the request, the reason, the limit the decision was made under and any conditions attached all end up in one findable place.

This template replaces a source page that had no document at all: no description, no example, no FAQ and a broken link to its own PDF. It is built instead around what a Canadian organization's internal controls actually need — a defined request type, an amount tested against a budget with the tax basis stated, a named approver with their signing-authority limit recorded, a decision that can be conditional, and a retention period that outlives the mailbox the request was raised in.

4 of 26 blanks filled

Tap any highlighted blank in the document below and type straight into it.Free — no sign-up, no watermark

Approval Form

Reference:
Date submitted:
Type of request:
Requester:: ,
Department:
Required by:

1. The Request

Business case: Impact if this is not approved:

2. Financial Detail

Amount requested:
Tax basis:
Recurring cost or term:
Budget line or cost centre:
Budget available:
Vendor or payee:

The amount above is stated before GST, HST or PST. The tax-inclusive figure will be higher, and where the approver's signing authority limit sits between the two figures the request must be approved at the level appropriate to the tax-inclusive amount.

Budget is available on the cost centre named above and this request falls within the approved budget for the current fiscal year.

Alternatives considered:

This is a request to commit to a purchase or engage a vendor. Approval authorizes the commitment described and does not authorize a change of vendor, an increase in value or an extension of term without a further approval. Where the vendor is new, the usual checks on their status, insurance and terms are completed before any order is placed.

3. Evidence Provided

The following were provided to the approver with this request:

OptionalInclude a finance or compliance review step

4. Decision

Approver:: ,
Signing authority limit:
Decision:
Date of decision:

The request is approved as submitted, within the approver's signing authority limit shown above. The requester may proceed on the terms described in the request and no others.

OptionalRequire a second approver

OptionalInclude the conflict and related-party declaration

The approver confirms that they are not the requester, that they have no personal interest in the outcome and no related-party connection to the vendor or payee, and that they are approving within the authority delegated to their role under the organization's signing authority policy. Where a conflict of interest exists, the request is escalated rather than approved.

5. Record

This approval is retained for and filed at , together with the attachments listed above, so that the decision, its basis and any conditions can be reconstructed later.

OptionalInclude the privacy collection note

Only the personal information necessary to make and evidence this decision is collected on this form, consistent with the limiting-collection principle in applicable Canadian privacy legislation. Supporting personal, medical or identity documents are held separately under the organization's privacy arrangements and are not attached to it.

Requester

Date:

Approver

Date:

Second approver (if required)

Date:

Signing authority is the point of the form

Most Canadian organizations — corporations, not-for-profits, school boards, municipalities and agencies alike — run a signing authority or delegation of authority policy setting out who may commit how much, for what. A manager to one threshold, a director to another, the CFO or the board above that. An approval form that does not record the approver's limit cannot answer the question an auditor, a finance committee or a board will ask afterwards: was the person who signed authorized to sign?

So this template asks directly for the approver's role and their signing-authority limit for the category, and routes the request to a second approver when the amount exceeds it. In smaller organizations the commonest control failure is not dishonesty; it is a capable manager approving something two tiers above their limit because nobody built the check into the form.

For not-for-profits and organizations with funder or grant obligations, the same form is the evidence. A reviewer wants exactly this: the request, the amount, the budget line, the evidence seen, the approver and their authority, and the decision with its date.

Separation of duties, conflicts and related parties

The person requesting should not be the person approving, and ideally neither should release the payment. This template keeps the requester and approver blocks distinct, has the approver confirm they are not the requester, and adds an optional finance or compliance review step before the decision is recorded.

Use that review for anything with a tail: a subscription that renews automatically, an agreement with an exit fee, a payment to a new vendor, a commitment crossing a fiscal year, or anything that shares personal information with a third party. Those are the requests where the real question is not whether the idea is good but what the organization is still paying for, or still liable for, in eighteen months.

The approver's declaration also covers conflicts and related parties. Where the approver has a personal interest, a family connection or a directorship on the other side, the form requires escalation rather than a signature — the day-to-day expression of directors' and officers' duties, and the thing a related-party disclosure note is eventually built from.

Amounts, taxes and a decision that can be conditional

Canadian approval amounts need a tax basis attached. GST, HST or GST plus provincial sales tax changes the number materially depending on the province, and an approval given against a pre-tax figure but acted on tax-inclusive is a control failure disguised as arithmetic — especially where the signing-authority limit sits between the two numbers. The template makes the basis an explicit selector and prints a warning when the limit could be crossed by tax alone.

Decisions get four outcomes rather than two: approved, approved with conditions, rejected, and referred to a higher authority. A great deal of real approval is conditional — yes, capped at this amount; yes, once the agreement has been reviewed; yes, monthly rather than annually; yes, for a three-month pilot with a review date. If the form has nowhere to put conditions, they live in an email thread and are forgotten by the next renewal.

Conditions and reasons are captured on the document itself, so a rejection can be explained the next time the same request appears and the conditions on an approval travel with it to renewal, audit or handover.

Electronic signatures, privacy and keeping the record

Electronic approval is normal in Canada, supported federally by the electronic documents provisions of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and provincially by electronic commerce and electronic transactions legislation. For an internal control record the technology matters less than the trail: who submitted, when, which version the approver saw, who approved, and whether the record can be reproduced accurately later.

The template therefore records submission and decision dates separately, lists the attachments the approver actually saw, and sets a retention period and filing location on the face of the document — tied to what the approval supports rather than to who signed it.

Keep the form lean. Leave, expense and access requests attract personal information quickly, and Canadian privacy law works on the principle that collection is limited to what is necessary for the identified purposes. A form that asks a colleague for medical details to approve time off, or a home address to grant a database role, creates a privacy problem in exchange for nothing. Collect what the decision needs and keep supporting material somewhere else — and where the organization operates in Quebec, remember that provincial private-sector privacy law applies with its own requirements.

Field-by-field guide

Reference and dates: A unique reference makes the approval findable from an invoice, a ticket or a contract file, and the submission date is kept apart from the decision date.
Request type: Purchase or new vendor, expense claim, document sign-off, time off, system access, or a discount or policy exception. The type drives what the approver needs to see.
Description and business case: What is being asked for, why, and what happens if it is not approved. The business case is what a later reviewer reads.
Amount and tax basis: The value and whether it is stated before or after GST, HST or PST — which matters when the signing-authority limit sits between the two figures.
Budget line and availability: The cost centre the spend comes from and whether budget exists. An amount with no budget line is a decision made without the key fact.
Recurring cost and term: Separates a one-off spend from a commitment that renews, which is the difference between a small approval and a large one.
Vendor and alternatives: Who would be paid and what else was considered — the first thing an auditor or finance committee asks about.
Attachments: Names the quote, agreement, specification or policy the approver actually saw, so the evidence base is recorded rather than assumed.
Approver, role and signing authority: The decision-maker, their role and their limit under the signing authority policy, with escalation built in when the request exceeds it.
Conflict and related-party declaration: Confirms the approver is not the requester and has no personal interest or related-party connection, with escalation rather than signature where one exists.
Decision, conditions and reasons: Approved, approved with conditions, rejected or referred, with conditions and reasons written on the form rather than left in email.
Retention and filing: How long the record is kept and where, tied to the underlying commitment rather than to the approver's tenure.

Getting the control right in Canada

An internal document rather than a regulated one, but several points have legal or audit consequences.

Match the form to your signing authority policy
Record the approver's limit for the category and require a second approver above it. An approval given above the signer's authority is a control failure even where the decision itself was sensible.
Keep requesting, approving and paying separate
The requester should not approve their own request and should not also release the payment. Where a very small team makes that impossible, escalate to a director, officer or board member rather than dropping the control quietly.
Rely on electronic signatures, but keep a reproducible record
Electronic documents and signatures are supported federally by the electronic documents provisions of PIPEDA and provincially by electronic commerce legislation. The practical requirement for a control record is a retained version showing who approved what and when.
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
Limit the personal information you collect
Canadian privacy law works on the principle that collection of personal information is limited to what is necessary for the identified purposes. Do not ask for medical details, home addresses or identity documents on an approval form unless the decision genuinely needs them.
Office of the Privacy Commissioner - PIPEDA fair information principles
Check which privacy law applies to you
Federal law applies to commercial activity in most provinces, but Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta have their own substantially similar private-sector statutes, and public bodies are covered separately. Confirm which regime governs your organization before designing the form.
State the tax basis on the amount
Say whether the figure approved is before or after GST, HST or PST. Where a signing-authority limit sits between the two figures, the basis decides who was entitled to approve.
Record conditional approvals as conditions
Conditions agreed in conversation are unenforceable in practice. Capture them on the form so they travel with the approval to renewal, audit and handover.
Set retention against the underlying record
An approval supporting an agreement or a tax-relevant expense is normally kept as long as that record; a routine internal sign-off can go sooner. Put the period on the document rather than leaving it to memory.

How to use this approval form

Choose the request type. Select purchase, expense, document sign-off, time off, system access, or a discount or exception, and the document adjusts its wording.
Describe the request and make the case. Say what is being asked for, why it is needed, and what happens if it is not approved.
Add the amount, tax basis and budget line. Enter the value and whether it is before or after tax, any recurring cost or term, the cost centre, and whether budget is available.
Route it to the right approver. Name the approver, their role and their signing-authority limit, and add a second approver or a finance review where the value or risk requires it.
Record the decision and file it. Choose approved, approved with conditions, rejected or referred, add conditions or reasons, set the retention period, then download and store the signed record.

Frequently asked questions

What should a Canadian approval form contain as a minimum?

A unique reference, the requester and submission date, what is being requested and why, the amount with its tax basis and budget line, the attachments the approver saw, the approver with their role and signing-authority limit, the decision with any conditions, and the decision date. Anything less and the decision cannot be reconstructed.

Can the same person raise and approve a request?

They should not. Separating requesting, approving and paying is the basic control that catches both error and misuse, and it is what auditors and finance committees test. In a very small organization, escalate to a director, officer or board member rather than abandoning the separation.

Is an electronic signature enough on an internal approval?

For internal purposes, generally yes. Electronic documents and signatures are supported federally by PIPEDA's electronic documents provisions and provincially by electronic commerce legislation, and what matters for a control record is a retained version showing who approved what and when.

Why does the form ask whether the amount includes tax?

Because GST, HST or PST can move the number materially depending on the province, and an approval given on a pre-tax figure but acted on tax-inclusive is a control failure disguised as arithmetic — especially when the signing-authority limit sits between the two numbers.

What is a signing-authority limit and why record it?

It is the maximum value or type of commitment a role may approve under the organization's signing authority or delegation policy. Recording it turns the form from a formality into a check: if the request exceeds the limit, it routes to a second approver instead of being signed by someone who was not authorized.

How should conditional approvals be handled?

Use the approve-with-conditions option and write the conditions on the form — a spending cap, monthly rather than annual payment, legal review before signature, or a pilot period with a review date. Conditions left in an email do not survive the renewal cycle.

Which privacy law applies to our approval records?

It depends on the organization. Federal law applies to commercial activity in most provinces, while Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta have their own substantially similar private-sector statutes and public bodies are covered separately. Whichever applies, the principle is the same: collect only what is necessary for the identified purpose.

How long should approvals be kept?

Tie retention to what the approval supports — an approval behind an agreement or a tax-relevant expense is normally kept as long as that record, while a routine sign-off can go sooner. The template asks for the period so the answer sits on the document itself.

Related templates

Disclaimer

This template and guide are for general information only and are not legal, audit, accounting or tax advice. Procurement, grant, not-for-profit and sector rules can impose approval and documentation requirements beyond an internal form, and privacy law differs between the federal regime and the Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta statutes.