Manager
Everything HR can do (and a bit more)
Manager-only actions that HR can't take — finalising payroll, approving expenses, setting permissions.
If you're a Manager, you have full access to everything in TracefyHR. The HR guide is a great starting point — every page there applies to you too. This page covers what HR can't do, and points you to the right Manager-only guide.
Manager-only actions
| Action | Where | Why Manager-only |
|---|---|---|
| Finalise payroll | Money → Payroll → Finalize | Locks the month and issues payslips — irreversible without explicit unlock |
| Approve / reject expenses | Money → Expenses → Pending tab | Separation of duties between submitter (HR) and approver |
| Approve / reject leave | Time → Leave (if assigned as approver) | Prevents anyone from approving their own time off |
| Manage permissions | Settings → Permissions | Controls who can access Finance and Forge AI |
| Add or remove leave types | Settings → Leave Types | Affects every employee's quotas |
| Edit company settings | Settings | Currency, tax label, branding, email templates |
| Build features in Forge AI | Forge AI | The build/deploy pipeline isn't exposed to HR by default |
| Permanently delete employees | People → Employees → Archived tab | GDPR-grade deletion is a one-way door |
| Unlock a finalised payroll month | Money → Payroll → finalised month → Unlock | Full audit trail; only Managers can override |
HR can do most of these too — if you grant them explicit permission. See Managing permissions to delegate any of these to specific HR users without making them full Managers.
Areas that are entirely Manager-territory
- Budget Planner — set yearly and monthly targets. See The Budget Planner.
- Analytics dashboard — visualise everything. See Analytics and reports.
- Forge AI — design custom HR features. See Forge AI overview.
- Settings — branding, currency, tax, leave types, expense categories, departments, email templates.
Recommendation: don't be the bottleneck
A common mistake new Managers make: keeping every approval to themselves. Two cleaner patterns:
- Make HR a co-Manager — same access, less waiting. Use this when you trust your HR fully.
- Delegate specific permissions — give HR
canAccessFinanceso they can approve expenses up to a threshold, but keep payroll finalisation to yourself.
The second pattern scales better as your team grows.
Related
Last updated 2026-05-01