Cash advances

Give people money before they spend it, take it off their expense report, and record what they give back - all in your books.

A cash advance is money given to someone before a trip or a purchase. Cash advances are part of the Standard plan and above. Open Advances in the menu.

Ask for an advance

1. Click + Request an advance.
2. Enter the amount and what it's for. If it's for a trip, choose the trip.
3. Click Send. It goes to your approver, the same person who approves your reports.

Your approver approves or rejects it, and Finance is then told to pay it. An advance asked for on a trip is approved with the trip. See Trips and purchase requests.

Pay an advance (Finance)

Open the advance under Advances > To pay and click Pay. Choose the cash or bank account and the date. This writes a journal in your books:

• Employee Advances (1302, made for you) for the person
• the cash or bank account it was paid from

To record money you have already given someone, click Record an advance given. It's paid at once, with no approval.

... > Undo payment cancels the journal, as long as none of the advance has been used yet.

Take it off an expense report

When the person claims their expenses, the advance is taken off what they're paid back:

• On the report, click Take off an advance, choose the advance and the amount.
• Or, on the advance, click Take off a report.

When the report gets its last approval, a second journal moves the advance from Employee Advances to what the business owes the person. Finance then pays back only the rest. If the advance covers the whole report, the report is settled with the approval and nothing more is paid.

Take an advance off a report again with Take off, until the report has been paid back.

Money given back

If the person spent less than the advance, Finance clicks Money given back on the advance. Enter the amount and the cash or bank account it went into. The journal is the cash or bank account against Employee Advances.

Left on the advance shows what is still to be used or given back. An advance with nothing left shows as Settled.