Okuzeka
Public Administration vocabulary · Bureaucracy and Procedures

Sign off

Meaning in public administration, with examples

phrasal verbCommon term

In public administration, sign off means: To give final official approval to a document, plan, payment or piece of work, often by signing it.

In Turkish: onaylamak, onay vermek, imzalayıp onaylamak

How it is used

Used in offices and projects: sign off a report, sign off on the budget (more American). The noun is sign-off: We are waiting for the director's sign-off. Common in emails when something cannot go ahead until a senior person approves it.

Example sentences

  1. The final report can't be published until the deputy minister signs it off.

  2. Finance has signed off on the extra spending, so we can order the equipment.

Common collocations

  • sign off on
  • final sign-off
  • get sign-off
  • signed off by the director
  • hierarchyA system in which people or units are arranged in levels of authority, with each level reporting to the one above it.
  • delegation of authorityThe formal transfer of the power to make certain decisions from a senior official to a more junior one or to another unit, usually in writing and within set limits.
  • paperworkThe routine work of preparing, filling in and filing the documents and forms needed for an official process, or those documents themselves.
  • procedureAn official, fixed set of steps for doing something, such as applying for a permit, handling a complaint or approving a payment.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Bureaucracy and Procedures

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: