How defensible is your next vendor payment?
Find the gaps in who can approve, who can pay, and whether last month's invoices would survive an owner challenge — plus the approval tiers and documentation standards to close them.
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Written for HOA, condo, and co-op treasurers and board presidents
The problem: informal payment processes create liability
Most boards handle vendor payments on trust and habit. That works until an owner, auditor, or insurer asks how a payment was approved — and the answer was never written down.
Single-signer authority
One person can request, approve, and release a payment. That single gap is the first thing auditors and insurers flag — and the one owners point to when they challenge a check.
No approval trail
Payments get greenlit over text, email, or a hallway conversation. When someone asks who approved the $45,000 change order and when, there is no record to point to.
Missing documentation
The invoice, the W-9, the approval, and the payment confirmation live in four different places — if they were kept at all. Reassembling them during a dispute or audit is slow or impossible.
What's inside
Practical, implement-today guidance across approval tiers, segregation of duties, documentation standards, ACH vs. check, and audit-trail requirements.
A ready-to-adopt approval tier framework
Concrete dollar thresholds — from a single approver under $1,000 to a documented board vote over $50,000 — you can put in your bylaws this month.
Segregation of duties for small boards
How to separate who requests, who approves, and who pays — even on a 3–7 member board where everyone wears multiple hats.
A per-payment documentation checklist
Exactly what to preserve for every payment — invoice, approval record, payment confirmation, and vendor W-9 — linked to the project and scope item.
An audit trail that survives a challenge
What a complete payment record looks like, how to respond to owner challenges on spending, and what to retain (and for how long).
Make your next payment defensible
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