Marketing director
CMO
Finance business partner
Brand manager
Revenue operations lead
VP of marketing
This process is used when a marketing team requests budget allocation for campaigns, programs, events, agency engagements, or media spend that exceeds predefined thresholds. It applies during annual planning cycles, quarterly reforecasts, or ad hoc requests for incremental spend. It is triggered when proposed expenditures need cross-functional review from both marketing leadership and finance before funds are committed. Ideal for organizations with distributed marketing teams, multi-brand portfolios, or environments where marketing spend is closely tied to revenue targets and requires executive oversight.
Marketing managers or brand leads typically submit budget requests with supporting business cases. Marketing directors or VPs review alignment to strategy and campaign priorities. Finance business partners validate budget availability, spending policy compliance, and forecast impact. CMOs or executive sponsors provide final authorization on high-value or out-of-cycle requests. Revenue operations or demand generation leads may be consulted when budget is tied to pipeline or revenue targets.
Faster budget cycle times by routing requests to marketing leadership and finance in parallel rather than through sequential email approvals. Clear spend accountability with every budget request traceable to who submitted, reviewed, and approved the allocation and under what conditions. Fewer budget overruns caused by requests proceeding without finance validation or exceeding quarterly allocation limits. Better alignment between marketing spend and revenue objectives by requiring business case justification tied to pipeline or campaign performance targets.
Your version of this process may vary based on roles, systems, data, and approval paths. Moxo’s flow builder can be configured with AI agents, conditional branching, dynamic data references, and sophisticated logic to match how your organization runs this workflow. The steps below illustrate one example.
Budget request submission
The process begins when a marketing manager or brand lead submits a budget request. The submission includes the proposed amount, the campaign or program it supports, the business case or expected outcomes, the timeline, and any supporting documentation such as vendor quotes or media plans. An AI agent can validate that all required fields are complete and that the request falls within submission guidelines before it moves to review.
Marketing leadership review
The request is routed to the appropriate marketing director or VP based on the team, brand, or region. This reviewer evaluates whether the proposed spend aligns with strategic priorities, whether the campaign or program is likely to deliver expected results, and whether the timing is appropriate relative to other planned activities. If the request needs refinement, it is returned to the submitter with feedback.
Finance validation
In parallel or following marketing review, a finance business partner reviews the request against available budget, spending policies, and forecast implications. This includes verifying that funds are allocated for the requested category, confirming the request does not push total spend beyond approved limits, and assessing any impact on quarterly or annual financial targets. If the request exceeds a defined threshold, finance may flag it for executive review.
Executive authorization
For requests above a certain dollar value, outside the approved plan, or flagged by finance, the request escalates to the CMO or an executive sponsor. This reviewer has final decision authority and evaluates the request in the context of overall marketing investment strategy. An AI agent can prepare a summary of the request, prior reviewer comments, and budget utilization context to support faster executive decision-making.
Approval confirmation and fund release
Once all required approvals are obtained, the submitter and relevant stakeholders are notified. Budget allocation is confirmed, and the approved amount becomes available for commitment against the specified campaign or program. Finance records are updated to reflect the new allocation.
Post-approval tracking
After approval, the process may connect to downstream procurement, vendor onboarding, or campaign execution workflows. Spend against the approved budget can be monitored, and any material variances may trigger a reapproval or amendment process.
This process commonly relies on inputs such as budget request forms, campaign briefs, vendor quotes, media plans, and current budget utilization data. It may be triggered by events like a campaign planning milestone, a quarterly budget review, or an ad hoc spend request. Systems such as a financial planning tool (Anaplan, Adaptive Planning), an ERP (NetSuite, SAP), or a marketing operations platform are commonly connected to provide budget availability, spend tracking, and forecast data.
Key decision points include whether the proposed spend aligns with current marketing strategy and priorities, whether the request falls within approved budget limits or requires incremental funding, whether the dollar amount triggers executive-level review, and whether finance identifies forecast risks or policy exceptions that need resolution before approval.
Vague business cases where budget requests lack clear expected outcomes or ROI justification, causing repeated back-and-forth between marketing and finance. Threshold confusion where submitters are unsure which requests require executive approval, leading to delays when requests are escalated late. Budget data lag where finance reviews are based on outdated utilization figures, resulting in approvals that inadvertently exceed allocation limits. Disconnected downstream execution where approved budgets are not communicated to procurement or vendors, delaying campaign launch despite timely approval.
Orchestrates review across marketing leadership, finance, and executives within a single workflow, reducing the email chains and spreadsheet tracking that typically slow budget cycles.
Routes requests conditionally based on dollar thresholds, budget category, or team, ensuring the right reviewers are engaged without manual triage.
AI agents validate submission completeness and summarize budget utilization context for reviewers, accelerating decision-making with relevant financial data.
Supports threshold-based escalation so that requests above defined limits automatically route to executive sponsors without additional coordination.
Connects to financial planning and ERP systems to pull real-time budget availability and update allocation records upon approval, reducing manual reconciliation.
Notifies all stakeholders upon approval including downstream teams responsible for procurement, vendor engagement, or campaign execution, ensuring approved budgets translate into action.
