If a review rejects something that is already paid

A direct payment or quick expense can be rejected during its after-the-fact review even though the money already left the account. Nothing reverses on its own when that happens. This article explains what you will see and what you can do about it.

What you will see

On the expense list, the row keeps its Paid status and gains a second, warning-coloured tag underneath it, so it is easy to spot without opening anything.

Inside the expense, you will see a flag stating that the review was rejected, and naming the person who rejected it.

By email, whoever recorded the expense (and only that person) gets an email explaining that the review was rejected and that the payment is still standing.

Nobody else is notified. The reviewer's decision does not get broadcast to the whole approval chain, and it does not go to anyone but the person who recorded the expense.

Why nothing reverses automatically

A rejected review means a reviewer disagreed with the expense after it was already paid. Automatically undoing the payment would hide that disagreement and quietly move the money a second time, which is worse than leaving a visible flag. Instead, URBI leaves the payment exactly as it is and puts the decision in front of the person who recorded it.

What you can do about it

Once you see the rejected flag, you have a real choice, not a forced action:

1. Leave it as it is. If the rejection turns out to be a misunderstanding, or you have separately worked it out with the reviewer, you can simply leave the expense flagged. Nothing forces you to act immediately.
2. Refund it. If the reviewer is right and the expense should not have been paid, refund it the same way you would refund any other paid expense.
3. Void the payment. This posts a correcting entry that reverses the original one in your books, without deleting the record of what happened.
4. Edit it and resubmit for review. If the expense was recorded incorrectly (wrong amount, wrong account, wrong category), fix it and send it back through review. This does not undo the original payment; it corrects the record and asks for a fresh look.

You will find these actions on the expense itself, from its own action menu.

Vendor bills work differently

None of this applies to a vendor bill. A vendor bill is never paid before it is approved, so a rejection there simply stops it before any money moves. There is nothing to refund, void, or resubmit, because nothing was ever paid.