Raise an advance
Collect funds before they are spent, against a named employee and a named account.
An advance is money handed over before it is spent — travel money, a petty cash float, an upfront cost. The person collects it, spends it, and then accounts for it with receipts.
It is the only Spend workflow that posts a journal at both ends, and the only one tracked against a specific employee.
Opening the form
Raise a request → Collect an advance, at /payment-requests/new.
The form
| Question | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| What will the funds be used for? | Yes | The purpose. Up to 255 characters. |
| How much do you need? | Yes | A single lump sum. An advance has one amount — there is no Add another line. |
| Who is collecting it? | Yes | The employee. The advance is tracked against them, and only they can hold it. |
| When will it be retired by? | No | The deadline for accounting for it. |
| Advance account | Yes | The account the outstanding advance sits in until it is retired. |
| Where is the money leaving from? | Yes | The bank or cash account the funds come out of. |
A currency chip sits beside the amount, exactly as on a payment request. Project, a note for your approvers, and attachments work the same way too.
Somebody who already holds an unretired advance cannot be given another. Submitting is refused with the reason, and the existing advance is named. Retire it first. This is what stops advances quietly accumulating against one person.
One purpose, one amount.
The employee it is tracked against, and the retirement deadline.
Where the advance will sit while it is outstanding, and where the cash leaves from. Both of these post.
It enters review like any other request.
What posts when it is issued
| Account | Debit | Credit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advance account (your choice) | The advance amount | — | The employee now owes the business this — in cash or in receipts |
| Bank or cash (your choice) | — | The advance amount | The money that left |
The advance sits as an asset until it is retired. It is not an expense yet — nothing has been spent as far as the books are concerned.
Following an outstanding advance
The request page carries a Retirement card for as long as the advance is open:
| Figure | Means |
|---|---|
| Advance | What was issued. |
| Retired | How much has been accounted for with receipts. |
| Returned | How much unspent cash has come back. |
| Balance | What is still outstanding. |
| Deadline | The retirement deadline, where one was set. |
Spend home also shows anyone their own outstanding advances, so an advance does not go quiet until somebody chases it.
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Partly retired | Some of the advance has been accounted for; a balance remains. |
| Retired | Fully accounted for. The person can be given a new advance. |
Related
- Retire an advance — the receipts, the balance, and the second journal
- The request page — the Retirement card and the Retire action
- Approve a request — how the decision is made
- Spend — the whole module