CorpWorkflow
Book 30 minutes
Guide · 6-minute read

Procedures manual: what it should contain, with an example.

A procedures manual says how each task in the company is done: who does it, when, with which system and what to do when it goes wrong. Done well, it's what a new starter reads in their first week and what stays behind when someone leaves. This guide sets out what it should contain, with a whole process written out as an example, a template to copy and how to keep it right.

Published 15 October 2026 · CorpWorkflow team

What a procedures manual is.

It's the document that brings together the company's procedures, organised by area and by process. Each procedure describes a task step by step, with who does it and which system they use, so that someone else can do it the same way.

It serves the people who join, who learn without taking up the time of whoever knows; the people who stay, when a colleague is off or leaves; and the people who decide, who can finally see where the time goes. In the EU, 12.7% of workers have been in their job for less than a year and 23.2% are 55 or older (Eurostat, 2025; the second figure is our calculation): every year, knowledge comes in and goes out.

Not to be confused with

Job descriptions
They say what each role does and what it's responsible for. The procedures manual says how each task is done. They complement each other: the same task appears under the role that does it.
Quality manual
It describes the quality management system. ISO 9001 stopped requiring one in 2015, and the 2026 edition doesn't ask for one either.
Policy
The rule: purchases over EUR 5,000 need approval. The procedure says how it's followed, step by step.

What a procedures manual should contain.

Eight parts, in the order of the contents page. This is the structure of the Company Manual the platform generates for Transportes Atlântico, the fictional haulage company in our demo:

Company Manual · Transportes AtlânticoContents
  1. The companyWhat it does, where, and how many people it has.
  2. OrganisationThe areas, the roles and who reports to whom. It's the only part with names; the rest talks about roles, which survive changes of staff.
  3. ProcessesArea by area, each process with a code, its purpose, its owner, who approves it and the tasks in the order they're done; each task with its procedure.

    Finance

    • PRC-FIN-01Collections
    • PRC-FIN-02Customer Invoicing
    • PRC-FIN-03Fines and Penalties
    • PRC-FIN-04Month-End Close
    • PRC-FIN-05Supplier Paymentsthe example below

    and 8 more areas, with 26 processes

  4. PoliciesThe rules the procedures apply, written down once.
  5. SystemsThe software the company uses, and for which tasks.
  6. Approval limitsWho approves what, and up to what amount.
  7. GlossaryThe company's own terms: CMR, annual test, payment run.
  8. SourceWhere each piece of information came from, who confirmed it and when.

Two parts make the difference between a manual that gets used and one that sits in a drawer: the codes, which let you cite a process in an email or an audit (PRC-FIN-05), and the source, which says what was confirmed and when. The version, the date and who approved it are also what ISO 9001 asks of documented information (clause 7.5).

Example: supplier payments.

This is how a process looks in the manual, with the procedure for each task: Supplier Payments, at Transportes Atlântico (100 people). Four tasks, three roles, one system and 370 hours a year.

PRC-FIN-05 · FinanceCompany Manual · Transportes Atlântico

Supplier Payments

From supplier invoices to payment: post them, reconcile the tolls, prepare the payment run and approve it.

OwnerFinance Director
ApprovesManaging Director
SystemERP
Tasks4, across 3 roles
Per year370 h
RulesApproval limits
How it's done, task by task

1. Post supplier invoices

Administrative Officer · every working day, with the post · 1 h

  1. Receive the invoices by email and post.
  2. Check each invoice against the order or the contract.
  3. Post it in the ERP with the cost centre and the vehicle.ERP

If it goes wrongInvoice without an order or at a different price: back to Purchasing before it is posted.

2. Reconcile tolls

Administrative Officer · every month, with the toll statement · 6 h

  1. Receive the monthly toll statement.
  2. Match the passages against trips and vehicles.
  3. Post it in the ERP and flag passages with no trip.ERP

If it goes wrongPassage with no trip linked: cleared up with the traffic office.

3. Prepare supplier payments

Accountant · every week, on Wednesday · 1 h

  1. Get the invoices due and falling due from the ERP.ERP
  2. Work out the payment run against the cash available.
  3. Record the payment run for approval.

4. Approve payments

Managing Director · when the payment run is ready, every week · 30 min

  1. Review the payment run.
  2. Approve the payments and transfers.

If it goes wrongPayment above the limit with no reason given: held over to the following week.

RuleApproval limits: purchases over EUR 5,000 need the Managing Director's approval.

Version 1 · 7 October 2026 · confirmed by the team, approved by the Finance DirectorTransportes Atlântico (Demo), fictional company · uncontrolled copy

Notice what isn't there: people's names, explanations of how the ERP works, stories. What's there is what someone needs to do the job tomorrow, and every line has been confirmed by the person who does it. The verbs (receive, check, post, approve) also show what can be automated: here, the first three tasks; the approval stays with the Managing Director.

How to write one, with a template.

The full method, with the month-end close as an example, is in the guide How to document your company's processes. In short:

  1. Start with the list of tasks, not the contents page.

    Area by area, with who does each task and how long it takes. The contents come out of the list; the other way round, you miss whatever nobody thought to write down.

  2. Write it with the person who does it.

    With the system open, what's done today, even if it isn't ideal. Improving it comes later.

  3. Always use the same template.

    The same fields for every task, so they're quick to read and easy to compare.

  4. Confirm and approve.

    The person who does the task confirms it; the process owner approves it. Only what's confirmed goes into the manual.

  5. Publish it in one place.

    Where the team already works, with the date it was last confirmed in plain sight.

Procedure template

PROCEDURE: [task name, starting with a verb]
Process: [process name] · Code: [PRC-AREA-NN]

Who does it: [the role, not the name]
When it starts: [a date or an event]
Frequency and time: [how often] · [how long each time]
What goes in: [the documents and data it needs]

How it's done:
1. [verb and what] · [system]
2. [verb and what] · [system]
3. [verb and what] · [system]

What comes out: [the result] · to: [who receives it]
If it goes wrong: [the exception] · escalated to: [role]
Who approves: [the role, if there's an approval]

Version: [no.] · [date] · confirmed by: [who does it] · approved by: [process owner]
Paste it into Word or wherever you write your procedures.

How to keep it up to date.

An out-of-date manual is worse than none: whoever follows it gets it wrong with confidence. Three rules are enough:

  • one owner per process, accountable for what's in it;
  • update it when a system, a person or a rule changes, not just at the annual review;
  • review each process at least once a year and show the date it was last confirmed.

This is Word's weak spot: every document is a copy, and copies age in different folders. In CorpWorkflow the manual isn't written by hand: it's generated as a PDF from the base the team confirms, so it always comes out with what's current, and every page warns that a printed copy is uncontrolled.

Frequently asked questions.

Is a procedures manual a legal requirement?

For most companies, no law requires one. It may be asked for by customers in supplier audits, by the rules of some sectors and by ISO 9001, which doesn't require a document by that name but does require the documented information needed for processes to run as planned (clauses 4.4 and 7.5).

What changed with ISO 9001:2026?

On this point, not much. The new edition was published on 16 September 2026 and still doesn't require a manual: it asks for the documented information the company needs (clauses 4.4 and 7.5). Certified companies have until 30 September 2029 to transition (ISO), which makes this a good time to bring procedures up to date.

Word or a platform?

To start with, Word is enough. It stops being enough when several versions are going round and nobody knows which one is right, or when you want to know how many hours a process takes and who does what. Then you need a base where each procedure is a record and the document is generated from it.

How long does it take?

What takes longest isn't the writing: it's fitting in the conversations with the people who do each task without stopping the work. With us, for companies of up to 100 people, the whole company is written down in 2 weeks or less, with the manual at the end, and nobody on your team has to write anything.

How much of your company is already written down?

Ten questions, two minutes: a score from 0 to 100 and the three things to improve first. If you'd rather we wrote the manual with you, in 2 weeks or less, let's talk for 30 minutes.

Take the self-assessment

or book 30 minutes