REQUESTING AND CLEARING ADVANCES
Requesting Advances
An employee may request an advance of funds in anticipation of future travel or other business expenses. Students and student groups will not be issued advances. Advances are only issued to SCU employees, and it is the employee's responsibility to ensure the advance is cleared. A Payment Request is used to process all requests for advances. The employee must complete the form and present it to Cashier Services for processing. Cashier Services verifies that the request details the purpose of the advance (who, what, when, where and why) and approves payment by either the Cashier Services cashier or Accounts Payable. There are two ways to receive an advance via cash or check.
Cash Advances (see example #1)
Minimum advance issued through Cashier Services cashier is $50. Maximum advance issued through Cashier Services cashier is $250.
- Cashier Services cashier accepts advance request and gives the individual cash
- Cashier Services keeps the original request and one copy
Check Advances (see example #2)
A check is issued by Accounts Payable if the request for an advance exceeds $250.
- Cashier Services reviews the request for approval as stated above
- Cashier Services keeps one copy of the advance request for their files
- Cashier Services forwards the advance request to Accounts Payable for payment.
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Clearing Advances
An advance remains outstanding until it is cleared. There are three ways to clear an advance. The approach to clearing the advance depends on whether money is owed to the University (the expenses incurred are less than the amount of the advance), money is owed to the employee (the expenses incurred exceed the amount of the advance), or the expenses incurred equal the amount of the advance.
- If the expenses incurred are less than the advance, the employee completes a Deposit Report to deposit the excess funds. The employee includes a copy of the original advance, original receipts to back-up the expenses and a Business Expense Report (if the advance is travel related) detailing the expenses incurred. Cashier Services verifies that proper receipts are attached to substantiate the expenses, and deposits the excess funds as directed on the Deposit Report. The original advance account is credited to clear the outstanding advance and the expense account is debited. The cash difference is the money not spent. (see example #3)
- If the expenses incurred are more than the amount of the advance, a Payment Request is completed to reimburse the employee (the refund may be cash or check, depending on the amount of the reimbursement). The Payment Request is accompanied by a copy of the original advance, a Business Expense Report detailing the expenses incurred (if the advance is travel related), and all original receipts to back-up those expenses. Cashier Services verifies that proper receipts are attached to substantiate the expenses and forwards the payment request to the cashier for cash reimbursement or to Accounts Payable for check reimbursement. (see example #4)
- If the expense incurred were equal to the amount of the advance, either a Deposit Report or Payment Request should be completed to clear the advance and charge the appropriate account for expenses. The employee submits a copy of the original advance, a Business Expense Report (for travel related expenses) and all original receipts to back-up those expenses.
University Policy
University policy states "All travel advances are to be cleared within ten days after completion of a trip. Non-travel or miscellaneous advances should be cleared within five days after the funds have been expended. Future advances will not be issued to employees or their home departments if these procedures are not followed. In addition, the University is required by law to report any uncleared advances as taxable income to the recipient."
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
