Microsoft uses AI risk scores to speed expense approvals for managers
Reviewed by Helen Jones
Microsoft Digital has built an internal Intelligent Risk Engine that sits inside MS Approvals for expense reports. The system scores each report from 0 to 100 and assigns a risk level from 1 (Negligible) to 5 (Critical), then highlights the specific lines and reasons that drove the score. It combines policy rules, spending patterns, and OCR receipt matching. Low-risk reports (scores 0-50) can move with light review. Higher scores still require deeper human checks. The company processes nearly a million expense reports a year across multi-country regions. This is a Customer Zero case study published on 9 July 2026. It is not a new Power Automate feature. Future plans include auto-approving some low-risk cases once compliance rules allow it.
Most approval flows still treat every request the same. A simple low-value claim and a complex multi-country report both land in the same queue, so managers either rubber-stamp everything or burn time on items that never needed deep review. Silent failures and late audit findings often come from that uniform path. Microsoft’s pattern changes the design: risk score first, then different review depth. The AI engine itself is internal and not available to builders, but the idea is portable. You can already route by amount, policy flags, missing receipts, or a simple status column in SharePoint, then add reminders and escalations only on the high-risk branch. That is how you cut approval fatigue without losing the audit trail.
Analysis
This is a pattern to adapt, not a product to wait for. Pick one approval flow that currently sends every request down the same path and split it: low-risk items get a short review or auto-advance after a timeout, high-risk items force extra checks, a Teams reminder, and a clear status update in the SharePoint list so failed or stalled runs are visible.
Source note
Pulse published by Collab365 Spaces, reviewed by Helen Jones on . Cite as "Microsoft uses AI risk scores to speed expense approvals for managers", Collab365 Spaces. 1 source referenced.