Quick answers to common questions about DOA, approval matrices, and RACI - and how they work together in real workflows.
This comes up constantly: people use “DOA,” “approval matrix,” and “RACI” as if they’re interchangeable. They’re related, but they answer different questions.
A: DOA is the formal assignment of decision rights and approval limits. It defines who is allowed to approve or commit the organization to an action - and under what constraints (thresholds, conditions, scope, time).
Think: permission to commit the company.
A: An approval matrix is a structured representation of approval rules - usually a table - that spells out which authority level is required for a given decision type and threshold.
An approval matrix often sits inside the broader DOA program, but in many organizations it becomes the “working DOA” because it’s what people actually use day to day.
Think: the rulebook format people reference.
A: RACI is a responsibility model: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed. It clarifies who does the work, who owns the outcome, and who should be involved.
RACI is useful for process clarity, but it does not grant authority. You can be “Accountable” in a RACI chart and still not have delegated authority to approve a transaction above a threshold.
Think: who does the work and who owns the outcome.
A: No. RACI can clarify roles, but DOA is what establishes decision rights and approval limits. If you only have RACI, you’ll still end up relying on informal approvals, escalation via email, and “whoever the executive trusts.”
A: In practice, yes - even if it doesn’t look like a spreadsheet. Somewhere, people need a deterministic way to map a scenario to an approver. That’s what the matrix provides.
A: Workflows are where governance meets reality. Systems like ERP, procurement, CLM, and treasury tools enforce (or fail to enforce) approval rules. The more your workflow rules drift from the matrix, the more you get:
A: Use each for what it’s good at:
A: Pick one system of record for authority rules and delegations. Then integrate outward so workflows reference the same source. When the matrix lives in one place, delegations live in another, and workflow rules live in three more, you’re managing mismatches instead of managing authority.
Next: If you want to pressure-test your authority controls and evidence, read DOA and SOX/Internal Controls (Q&A).
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