Cash Advances

Cash advances are requested on a Pre-Approval for extended travel or group travel. The university functions under the IRS Accountable Plan Rules. Therefore, advances may be obtained and used only for business expenses by a university employee in active travel status.

University employees acting as a travel group leader may obtain cash advances of per diem for student participants on the same trip. In such cases a disbursement log should be maintained in which each student signs they received their allocation of the per diem. The log is then included with other receipts associated with that trip.

University issued credit cards generally eliminate the need for cash advances. In addition to convenience, the credit card reduces financial risk of carrying cash or cash products. Therefore, advances are issued only to university employees for extended trips over 30 days or on trips in which the employee is acting as a group leader. Advances are not issued to individuals traveling for less than 30 days. If cash is needed on these trips, it can only be obtained with approval from the college/division controller authorizing an ATM cash withdrawal limit on the employee's Travel or Corporate card.

When approved in Chrome River, a cash advance is deposited to the bank account established in My Financial Center 10 days prior to departure.

The university considers a cash advance (whether through Chrome River or from an ATM) as a personal loan. The traveler must account for the cash advance within 30 calendar days of returning from their trip. After completing the Expense Report, if an employee owes money back to the university it will be recorded as an amount due in My Financial Center. The employee can pay that amount due within that system. Travel advances left unsubstantiated and unspent balances not returned within 60 days will be reported on the compliance report distributed to the college/division and as taxable income to the employee.