Travel Advances

The university provides cash advances to employees traveling on official William & Mary business.  A Travel Advance is a university service to employees to cover out-of-pocket travel expenses that are expected to be reimbursed to the employee from university accounts.  A Travel Advance is not provided for expenses that can be paid as direct billing or by the Department Small Purchase Charge Card.  A Travel Advance must be requested in Workday through a Spend Authorization.  Students and Non-W&M Affiliates may not request a travel advance. The Cash Advances policy will provide full guidance on the requirements and limits for travel requests. 

Requests 

Employees must request a cash advance through Workday – Spend Authorization, along with a signed  Acknowledgement of Financial Responsibility Form. Travel Advances will not be dispersed until 10 days prior to the departure date of the employee's travel trip.  A Travel Cash Advance must be greater than $100 and cannot be dispersed once the travel trip has started.  The Director of Accounting and Tax Compliance, alongside the Travel Office will approve these cash advance requests and manage all approvals and reconciliation. 

Reconciliation

The advance must be reconciled on an Expense Report in Workday within 60 days of the last travel date (completion date). The reconciliation requires the traveler to complete an expense report including expense items and supporting receipts.  Once the Travel Office approves the expense report, any unspent funds must be returned immediately after reimbursement to the university at the Cashier's Office in Blow Hall. Returned Funds will be applied to clear the outstanding receivable.