Cash Advances

The University issues cash advances to employees in support of official University business for a very limited number of business activities. Cash advances should be rare and only issued for the following reasons:

• Travel
  • Cash advances are limited to $50 per day, plus $100 per trip, per person while in travel status and must meet one or more of the following requirements:
  • Travel will extend longer than fourteen days without returning to employee's University location.
  • Meal and incidental expenses for student group travel. Destination is such that service providers (food, lodging, transportation, supplies) do not accept credit cards for payment (example, cash based economy).
  • The University does NOT provide cash advances for airfare.
• Non-Travel
  • Cash for research participant payments.
  • Occasional hosting of prospective students, up to $40 per day per student (Chief Financial Managers for each campus or college may set lower limits).

There may be other unique circumstances that a cash advance may be appropriate.  These requests must be submitted to Purchasing Services for review and approval.

The University has other options for payment that should be considered before requesting a cash advance. Some payment options include:

• University Travel Card
• University Procurement Card (PCard)
• Prepaid Debit Card Program
• Direct payment by the University to a supplier

The following apply if a cash advance is requested.

• All expenditures must be in compliance with applicable rules, regulations and University policies,
• As, external research sponsors may have more or less restrictive rules than the University, cash advance requests on sponsored funds must follow the most restrictive applicable policy (University policy or sponsor rules). However, if the sponsor has given prior written approval, expenses generally not allowed on non-sponsored funds may be allowed on sponsored funds.
• Units or departments must have in place local procedures for secure handling of cash and reconciliation of the cash advance.
• Cash advance requests should be received by Purchasing Services no earlier than 30 days prior the activity start date.
• Approved requests will be paid to the employee no earlier than 10 days prior to the activity start date.
• Cash advances are not issued for $100 or less (Purchasing Services has other options for smaller dollar amounts).
• Cash advances are limited to a six-month period of time (such as trip or study start/end dates).
  • For trips or activity of longer duration, employees must complete a new cash advance request once the original request has been reconciled and approved.

Documentation/Reconciliation

The employee receiving the cash advance must provide adequate documentation to substantiate the activity in accordance with Administrative Policy: Processing, Documenting, and Approving Financial and Accounting Transactions, and must reconcile and return unused cash within 60 days of the end date of the activity or before the end date of the grant, for sponsored funds, depending on which deadline is sooner. Activity related to cash advances that occurs near the end of the fiscal year should be reconciled in accordance with the year-end accounting calendar to ensure reporting in the correct accounting period.

If expenditures are not properly substantiated or any unspent monies are not returned within the time limits, approvers may choose to deny all or any portion of the expenses submitted and request that the cash advance be paid back to the University by the employee who received the cash advance, either through payroll deduction or the billing process. If for any reason repayment cannot be arranged, the amount(s) in question will be recorded as taxable income to the employee by the department.