Cash advances of up to 100% of the estimated trip cost (excluding airfare and conference registrations) may be obtained when university travel would impose a financial burden for the employee traveling on university business. Travel cards now offer a replacement for cash advances and are the preferred method for reducing the out-of-pocket expense for a traveler. The use of travel cards is strongly encouraged. Travel cards are available to all university employees, at the discretion of their campus or institute leadership.
Travelers must submit a request to travel via the University’s travel system, Concur. A request is required to receive a cash advance as it is the vehicle through which the cash advance is requested. This is true for domestic as well as international travel. The estimated expenses entered on the request are the basis for the cash advance amount.
Cash advances should only be requested for the following reasons:
- university travel would impose a financial burden for the employee traveling on university business
- emergency situations where a new employee may not have had time to obtain a travel card
- international travel
- group travel involving students
Log into Concur at travel.tennessee.edu with your UT NetID credentials with DUO two-factor authentication. From the Manage Requests screen, either create a new request or select an existing active request.
Add all expected expenses to the request. Choose the appropriate expense and enter the amount. Add comments, if needed. Then click Save.
NOTE: The cash advance request amount is automatically calculated at 100% of the total expenses entered, with the exception of conference registrations and airfare. It is best to have all expenses added before the advance is created and the amount calculated.
After all expected expenses have been entered, the cash advance can be created. Open the Request Details and click Add Cash Advance.
The cash advance will be calculated from the existing expected expenses. There will be an alert that the Cash Advance Justification is required. Click in the cash advance box to open it.
The Cash Advance Details tab will open so that the justification can be added. If the traveler wants to request less than 100% of estimated expenses, that amount can be entered in the Requested Amount of Cash Advance field. The request cannot be more than 100% of the total expected expenses. In the Cash Advance Justification box, add the reason the cash advance is being requested. Additional documentation can be attached by clicking on Manage Attachments. Click Save.
Approval Workflow
A request with a cash advance will automatically route to the Cost Object Approver. If the cash advance is over $10,000, the request will also route to the Campus Business Officer. The traveler can track the approval process by going to Request Details > Request Timeline. Once a cash advance is fully approved, it will be paid through Accounts Payable no more than 10 days before the start of the trip.
The traveler will receive an email notification of the final approval from Concur and an IRIS deposit notification when the advance is issued for direct deposit.
Managing a Cash Advance
Once approved, the cash advance becomes active on the traveler’s profile.
Details of the issued cash advance are available by clicking the Cash Advances summary link on the landing page or the Cash Advance link in the expense module navigation menu.
NOTE: Any active cash advance must be resolved by submitting an expense report with the linked cash advance before submitting expense reports that are not affiliated to a cash advance.
Linking a Cash Advance
When the approved request with a cash advance is linked to an expense report, the cash advance is automatically linked to the expense report. The request and expense can be linked in either of two ways, which are shown in the FAQ article Travel: Linking a Request and Expense.
Otherwise, the cash advance can be linked to the report from the Report Details drop-down menu by selecting Manage Cash Advances under the Linked Add-ons area. This will allow the traveler to browse, select and link the appropriate advance.
All funds issued through the cash advance must be accounted for with out-of-pocket expenses on the expense report. As out-of-pocket expense items are added the linked cash advance remaining amount will automatically update. Once the remaining amount is $0.00, all the cash advance has been accounted for and the report can be submitted.
If the cash advance was not utilized fully, the balance can be accounted for using the Cash Advance Return expense type item. This expense item is only available if a cash advance is linked to an expense report. The amount of the any unused cash advance will be deducted from the traveler’s payroll. Notification of this action will be sent from IRIS ahead of the deduction.
NOTE: The amount of the Cash Advance Return should be the amount of the remaining cash advance. Do not enter the negative dollar value of the balance.
If you have questions or need additional assistance using the University’s travel system, please contact travel@tennessee.edu.