Emails are regularly used for approving large transactions. You can have dedicated approval systems but they are often more of a problem than a solution. When the approver is away you have complex and slow delegation procedures when you are not completely stuck. When people are travelling they can&#x27;t approve anything while they can on a blackberry. And you need to email people to chase them anyway. These systems are just adding to the corporate bureaucracy.<p>Common sense should be the first line of defense. Even by email, managers should not approve a transaction they know nothing about. And if one approves somethings after having only talked to complete strangers, it&#x27;s hard to fight raw stupidity. The first think I would have done in this story is fire the accountant.