Sent for Payment is the moment your expense report leaves your hands
Sent for Payment in Concur means you have submitted your expense report and it is now in the approval queue, waiting for a manager or approver to review it. The report has left your draft state and entered the system where someone else can see it and act on it. You can no longer edit it yourself.
This is different from Approved, which comes later. Sent for Payment is the submission point — the moment the report stops being yours alone and becomes something the organisation is processing. Once you hit that button, the clock starts on whoever needs to sign off on it.
The exact next step depends on your company's approval chain. Some organisations route reports to a direct manager first. Others send them to a finance team. Some require multiple approvers. But all of them start here: with you sending the report out and waiting for someone else to receive it.
Key Takeaways
- Sent for Payment means your expense report has been submitted and is waiting for an approver to review it — you cannot edit it anymore.
- The report moves to whoever is configured as your first approver in Concur, which is usually your direct manager.
- The status will change to Approved, Rejected, or Sent Back to Employee depending on what the approver decides.
- You can still see the report and its status in Concur, but you cannot make changes until an approver sends it back to you.
What happens after you send a report for payment
Once you click Sent for Payment, Concur moves your report into a workflow. The system notifies your approver — usually by email — that a report is waiting for them. The approver sees it in their Concur inbox or receives a notification depending on how your organisation has set up alerts.
Your approver can then open the report, review the expenses you listed, check the receipts you attached, and decide whether to approve it or send it back. If they approve it, the report moves to the next step in your organisation's chain — often a finance team or accounting department. If they reject it or send it back, you get a notification and the report returns to Draft status so you can edit it.
The time this takes varies. Some organisations have approvers who check Concur daily. Others take a week or longer. If your report is urgent, you may need to follow up with your approver directly — Concur does not enforce a important date on the approver's side.
The difference between Sent for Payment and other report statuses
Concur uses several status labels, and they mean different things at different points in the process. Understanding the difference helps you know where your report is and what happens next.
| Status | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | You are still building the report. No one else can see it yet. | Add expenses, attach receipts, edit anything, delete the report. |
| Sent for Payment | You have submitted it. It is waiting for an approver to review. | View it, but not edit it. You can withdraw it in some systems. |
| Approved | An approver signed off on it. It is moving toward reimbursement or payment. | View it only. The organisation now owns the next step. |
| Rejected | An approver declined it. It is back in your hands. | Edit it and resubmit, or abandon it. |
| Sent Back to Employee | An approver wants changes but is not rejecting it outright. | Edit the flagged items and resubmit. |
| Paid | The organisation has processed reimbursement or charged the corporate card. | View it only. The transaction is complete. |
The key moment is Sent for Payment. Once you move past Draft, you lose control. The report is no longer yours to change on a whim.
Why your approver might reject or send back a report
When a report lands in Sent for Payment status, the approver is looking for specific things. They check that expenses fall within policy, that receipts match the amounts claimed, that the business purpose is clear, and that the dates and categories are correct. If something does not match, they have two options: reject the whole report or send it back with notes on what needs fixing.
Common reasons for rejection or send-back include missing receipts, expenses that do not match your company's policy, amounts that do not add up, or a business purpose that is too vague. If your approver sends it back, you will see their comments in Concur. You then edit the report, fix the issues, and resubmit it — which puts it back into Sent for Payment status.
If your report is rejected outright, you have to decide whether to fix it and try again or let it go. Some organisations have a time limit on how long you can hold a report before it expires, so check your company's policy if you are unsure.
How long Sent for Payment usually takes
There is no standard timeline. Some approvers review reports within a day. Others take a week or more. It depends on how often your approver checks Concur, how busy they are, and whether your organisation has set up automatic reminders for pending reports.
If your report has been in Sent for Payment for longer than a week and you have not heard anything, it is reasonable to follow up with your approver directly. They may not have seen the notification, or it may have landed in a spam folder. A quick message — "I submitted an expense report on [date], wanted to check if you had any questions" — usually gets a response.
Some organisations also have a finance team that can tell you where a report is stuck. If your approver is out of the office or unresponsive, contact your finance or accounting department to see if they can move it along or reassign it to someone else.
What to do if you need to change a report after sending it for payment
Once a report is in Sent for Payment status, you cannot edit it yourself. If you realise you made a mistake — added the wrong amount, forgot an expense, or miscategorised something — you have a few options.
The cleanest option is to contact your approver and ask them to send the report back to you. Explain what needs to change, and they can return it to Draft status. You then make the edit and resubmit. This keeps everything in one report and one approval chain.
Some Concur systems allow you to withdraw a report that is in Sent for Payment status, which returns it to Draft without needing the approver's permission. Check your Concur interface to see if a Withdraw button appears. If it does, you can pull the report back, make changes, and resubmit.
If neither option works and the approver has already approved the report, you may need to create a new report for the missing or corrected expense and submit that separately. Your finance team can tell you whether that is acceptable in your organisation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I edit my report after I send it for payment?
No, not directly. Once you click Sent for Payment, the report is locked from your side. You can ask your approver to send it back to you, or you can withdraw it if your system allows that button. After withdrawal or return, you can edit it and resubmit.
What if my approver rejects my report?
You will receive a notification in Concur with their reason. The report returns to Draft status, and you can edit it. Review their comments, make the necessary changes, and resubmit the report. It will go back into Sent for Payment and return to your approver's queue.
How do I know if my report has been approved?
Concur will send you a notification — usually by email — when your report status changes. You can also log into Concur and check the report's status directly. Look for the status field, which will show Approved, Rejected, Sent Back to Employee, or Paid depending on where it is in the process.
What if my approver is out of the office?
If your approver is away and your report is stuck in Sent for Payment, contact your finance or accounting department. They can often reassign the report to a backup approver or move it along the approval chain manually. Do not wait more than a week without reaching out.
Does Sent for Payment mean I will get paid?
No. Sent for Payment means the report is waiting for approval. Approval is just the first step. After approval, the report usually goes to a finance team for processing, and only after that step is complete will you actually receive reimbursement or see the charge on your corporate card.