# How confirmation and approval work

**For:** Manager | Admin
**You'll need:** Nothing.

Worked hours move through two steps before they reach payroll: someone **confirms** the hours are correct, then a manager **approves** them. This article explains who does each step, and how the two company-wide modes differ.

## The two modes

The mode is set once in **Company settings → Time approval** — see {doc}`/settings-and-admin/company-settings/time-approval`. It applies to the whole company.

- **Manager approval only.** A manager confirms the hours (or they're recorded automatically) and approves them. One person signs off. This is the simpler workflow.
- **Employee confirmation + manager approval** (dual approval). The employee confirms their own hours first — they're telling you "yes, these are the hours I worked." Only then can a manager approve. This is the four-eyes control: the person who worked and the person who pays both sign off.

```{note}
New companies start in the mode that fits their country. Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and France default to **dual approval** (the law makes the employer responsible for recording each person's hours, and employee self-declaration is the customary way to meet that). Italy, the UK, and the US default to **manager approval only**. You can switch anytime.
```

## Who confirms

- **The employee**, for their own hours. The most common way is the kiosk: when a worker clocks out at the tablet, that clock-out **is** their confirmation — see {doc}`/track-time/kiosk/daily-use`. On the web, a worker can confirm their own finished shifts from their timesheet.
- **A manager, on the employee's behalf.** A manager can confirm any row in their locations — use this when someone has left, is off sick, or simply can't get to a device. The row records that *you* confirmed it (not the employee), so on-behalf confirmations stay visible. This is the escape hatch: a row is never stuck waiting on a confirmation that can't happen.

## What confirmation does

Confirming a row, in either mode:

- Records the worked hours. If nothing was clocked, {{ app_name }} fills them from the scheduled times ("worked as scheduled").
- Triggers leave and time-compensation accruals — see {doc}`/manage-leave/leave-requests/index` and {doc}`/rules-and-compliance/time-compensation/index`.
- Sets the status to **'Confirmed'**.
- If the hours are within your auto-approve tolerance, the row is approved automatically — see {doc}`/rules-and-compliance/time-compensation/auto-accrual`.

## The approval gate (dual approval only)

In dual-approval mode a manager **cannot approve a row until it's confirmed**. There is no "approve without confirmation" shortcut — the only way past the gate is a real confirmation, by the employee or by a manager on their behalf. Until then the row shows **'Awaiting confirmation'** and the **'Approve'** action is disabled. In manager-approval-only mode there's no gate — you confirm and approve as you always have.

```{warning}
Editing a row's clock times clears its confirmation — the row must be confirmed again before it can be approved. This keeps the sign-off honest: nobody can change the hours after they were confirmed without someone re-confirming.
```

## Related

- {doc}`confirm-a-time-entry`
- {doc}`approve-a-time-entry`
- {doc}`/settings-and-admin/company-settings/time-approval`
- {doc}`/track-time/kiosk/daily-use`