Company Accounts: Roles, Limits, and Why a Second Person Approves

When a company invests money rather than an individual, the workflow changes. A company account has several people with different roles: the owner, an Authorized Signatory — the person legally authorized to make financial decisions and approve transfers and purchases — a trader who can submit orders within certain limits, and a viewer who can only look without executing anything. Every company account has a set order limit. If an order is within that limit, the trader executes it directly. If an order exceeds the set limit, it needs additional approval from someone other than the person who submitted it, even if that same person also holds an approval-capable role. This principle is called Maker-Checker: a security and control procedure that prevents one person from both creating an action and approving it alone. This protects company funds from mistakes or misuse and ensures a second set of eyes on every significant decision.

Illustrative example

Suppose a company trader submitted a buy order for an illustrative amount that exceeds the account's set limit. In this case, the order does not execute directly — instead it is sent to the approval inbox to wait for approval from a signatory other than the trader themselves. This is only an illustrative example to explain the mechanism.

Common mistake

Some users think that a person holding more than one role at once, such as being both a signatory and a trader, can approve an order they submitted themselves. This is not allowed: the submitter can never approve their own request, even while holding both roles.

Quick check

1. What happens when a company order exceeds the set limit?

   It needs additional approval from a signatory other than the submitter — limits exist to ensure extra review on larger orders.

2. What is Maker-Checker?

   Preventing the same person from both creating and approving an action alone — having two different parties reduces the chance of error or misuse.

3. Can a submitter approve their own request if they are also a signatory?

   No, never — the rule blocks self-approval regardless of how many roles a person holds.

This content is educational only and is not investment advice.

Try it: Open the approval inbox to see how orders waiting for someone else's signature are shown (screen: IW-14).