The ins and outs of money in business can be confusing. We will try to break it all down here as to how it works at Significa. By having everyone aware of our controls workflow, we can streamline transaction management, reduce risks, and ensure regulatory compliance, safeguarding financial integrity and company assets. Big thumbs up to that! But it’s important that you’re aware that it’s all our responsibility to ensure that things run smoothly here. Here’s how it all works and what it means for you:

Financial responsibilities

Barbosa, our accountant, manages the bank account, handling all incoming and preparing outgoing payments, such as salaries, reimbursement, and taxes, among others. However, he isn't authorised to complete payments without Catarina's approval (or Rui’s or Pedro’s, should Catarina have doubts about a particular approval).

Catarina oversees all payments, ensuring expenditures align with our financial goals and sustainability. On a monthly basis, Catarina is responsible for preparing and presenting a financial report to the Board.

Both Barbosa and Catarina collaborate closely, reviewing each other's work to maintain financial accuracy and security.

Payment authorisation

Catarina must authorise any payment, from smaller to more significant sums. You know, she's like the gatekeeper of our vault, so you won't get in unless she lets you.

Now, for anything you want/need to spend money on, you must submit your Payment Approval Request (PAR). But before you do so, ensure your manager has signed up for this expense. Don't bother submitting a PAR without your Manager's approval. We'll cross-check.

You submit your PAR using the button below:

Expense approval form

PAR applies to any expenses, including travel and accommodation.

Submit

The invoices

For each expense, we need an invoice, including Significa’s NIF, sent to billing@significa.co, except for expenses made in foreign countries – in these cases, the NIF is not needed, but the invoice is still required.

Should this invoice be missed, the same sum may be deducted from your salary. Be careful.

We know this is tough, but for every expense we don't have an invoice for, extra taxes will be applied, impacting our financial goals.

Reconciliation

Barbosa performs monthly reconciliations between invoices, financial records, bank statements, ledgers, and other accounts to ensure accuracy.

At that point, if any documentation is missing, Catarina will be informed so she can investigate and resolve discrepancies promptly, primarily by looking after missing invoices. This is why having all PAR registered is so important: we can backtrack who is behind such expenses and address the situation with the individual.

Should invoices be missing? You know the gist, the responsible person risks having the amount deducted from their next paycheck, so double-check!

Reimbursements

In the unlikely event you choose or even rarer instance, we asked you to make a payment with your own money; please ensure you still submit a PAR. We don't want you to be put in a situation where such a payment is deemed unreasonable and, therefore, you can't be refunded. For all things Work Expenses Reimbursements, head over here.

Company credit card

Some people have their own Credit Card, but this is limited to those who make recurring expenses on behalf of Significa.

Each Department has its own Credit Card as well, to be used for department-specific expenses, for better tracking and control.

All these cards have a limit of 1000€ per month. Department expenses require a PAR submission, too.

All expenses made with these Credit Cards also require Significa’s NIF, except expenses made abroad (these don't require NIF, but the receipt is still required). For more information about providers who may not have a readily available NIF field during checkout, please refer to “NIF-less providers” above

However, should any expense be deemed unreasonable by Catarina upon invoices and payment reconciliation at the end of the month, or should the invoice be missing, the amount may be deducted from your salary.

Google Drive Folder

Invoices from individually assigned Credit Cards (not the Department ones) should be uploaded to their respective “Expenses” folder in Google Drive. If you don't know anything about this, ask Catarina how to proceed.

Balance lift

If you require the limit to be lifted, you should seek approval from Catarina with justifiable documented reasoning and approval from your Team Manager, if applicable.

Catarina will determine whether it's financially feasible and justifiable before approving the budget increase.

Payment Cycles

Payments via bank transfer are processed on the 5th, 15th, and 25th of each month – or the closest preceding business day. Transfers outside these dates are only allowed for critical situations.

Everything you need to know about paying salaries is available here.

Practical examples

You want to buy 3 books, totalling €150.

1. Ask your Manager for approval.

2. If the Manager signs it off, fill out the PAR form.

3. If Catarina deems the expense justifiable, she'll approve it.

4. Then, ask your Manager for your Department card and proceed with purchasing.

5. Ensure you get the invoice with Significa’s NIF and send it to billing@significa.

You want to buy a license that requires recurring payment.

1. These types of subscriptions will most likely yield monthly invoices that we need to fetch. For these types of recurring payments, follow the same process as above, but also ensure:

   1. If account creation is needed, ensure the authentication information is correctly stored on 1Password.

   2. Ensure you use general@significa.co to do so.

   3. If the subscription allows sending invoices via email, ensure those are set to be sent out to billing@significa.co.

   You want to purchase on behalf of a client, such as a font.

   You should know that all these purchases require client permission first. They must sign off on this expense because they should be the ones covering this cost. To make it extra clear, we must not cover any client expenses.

   In situations where the clients prefer us to make the purchase for them, we can do that on their behalf, but we will include this cost in their monthly invoice.

   You still need to submit a PAR and follow the process above (including the NIF), but ensure you mention the client has approved the expense and that they're fine with being charged for it in their next invoice.

   We will not make recurring purchases, such as subscriptions, on behalf of clients.