Answer "can I spend this?"
People ask about budgets and approval rules and get a clear answer.
Finance · When you ask · Updated
Works with
- Slack
- Airtable
- Microsoft 365
Slack
Airtable
Microsoft 365How do you answer "can I spend this?"?
To answer "can I spend this?", employees ask Maito in Slack. It checks your approval rules and the team's remaining budget in your spreadsheet, answers yes or no with the numbers, names who must approve at that amount, and flags committed spend and paperwork such as a signed order form.
How it's done today
Finance answers the same budget questions daily.
What Maito does
- Read the question
- Check budget and approval rules
- Answer and say who approves
Example
@Maito can I buy a $2,000 tool for the support team? It's a yearly plan.
Yes, within budget. Customer success has $6,150 left this quarter, out of $15,000. Who approves • Over $1,000 needs your director's approval. That's Kate. • Over $5,000 also needs finance. • Annual plans need a signed order form, even with a card. Catch: the budget sheet has $1,800 marked committed for Zendesk seats, which hasn't hit your actuals yet. After that you'd have $4,350, still enough. Source: the Q4 budget sheet in Microsoft 365 and the purchasing policy in company knowledge. Want me to draft the request to Kate?
@Maito yes, please.
Sent the request to Kate in a thread here with the cost, the budget left and the order form. Nothing is bought yet.
Jo (1:40 PM):
can I buy a $2,000 tool for the support team? It's a yearly plan.
Maito (1:41 PM):
Yes, within budget. Customer success has $6,150 left this quarter, out of $15,000.
Who approves
• Over $1,000 needs your director's approval. That's Kate.
• Over $5,000 also needs finance.
• Annual plans need a signed order form, even with a card.
Catch: the budget sheet has $1,800 marked committed for Zendesk seats, which hasn't hit your actuals yet. After that you'd have $4,350, still enough.
Source: the Q4 budget sheet in Microsoft 365 and the purchasing policy in company knowledge. Want me to draft the request to Kate?
Jo (1:44 PM):
yes, please.
Maito (1:45 PM):
Sent the request to Kate in a thread here with the cost, the budget left and the order form. Nothing is bought yet.
How to set it up
- Set up
Nothing to set up. Ask in Slack or by email whenever you need it.
- Connect spreadsheet
- Airtable
- Microsoft 365
Not connected yet? Your agent sends you a link to sign in.
What it won't do
Maito answers from the sheet and the policy. Approvals and exceptions stay with the people who own the budget.
Questions
From a spreadsheet in Airtable or Microsoft 365. The approval rules come from your finance policy.
No. It tells the person what the rules require and who approves.
Maito says which figures it used and when the sheet was last updated, so the person can check.
