Effective Date: prior to July 2012
Last Revised Date: February 2024
I. POLICY STATEMENT.
This policy describes Occidental College’s policy and procedures for obtaining a cash advance to pay College-related business expenses.
II. APPLICABILITY.
This policy applies to all Occidental employees who request a cash advance to pay College-related business expenses.
III. DEFINITIONS.
Clearing - Clearing a cash advance means submitting an employee Expense Reimbursement Form with appropriate original expense receipts attached.
Requestor – the employee requesting a cash advance under this policy.
IV. POLICY.
A. Eligibility for and Requesting a Cash Advance
Only College employees are eligible for cash advances. A student in the Work-Study Program (i.e. a student worker) is not eligible for a cash advance. NO cash advances will be given to any student. The College reserves the right to withhold cash advance privileges from any employee.
Cash advances should be requested only when (1) all other methods for obtaining and paying for goods/services have been exhausted and (2) the anticipated expense exceeds $100. The amount requested for a cash advance must be based on an accurate and complete estimate of the expense and should be kept the minimum amount required for business needs. Cash advance requests should not exceed $3,000 unless approved in advance by the Business Office.
An employee may only request one cash advance per event. Under extraordinary circumstances where a second cash advance is needed by the same Requestor, the Requestor’s department head and the Controller or the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer must approve the request.
Employees with College-issued credit cards should not request cash advances. Rather, cardholders must use their College-issued credit care for all College-related business transactions.
Advances should not be used for a department’s petty cash needs. If your department requires petty cash, you should request a revolving petty cash fund from the Business Office. Refer to the Departmental Petty Cash Policy for more details.
1. To Request a Cash Advance
Employees who require a cash advance must complete and sign (physically or digitally) the Cash Advance Request Form and submit it to Accounts Payable (“A/P”). The form must be filled out completely and include all required information, such as employee’s name, department, fund and organization code numbers, business purpose, and expected Clearing Date of the cash advance. The Requestor must be the person to whom the cash advance will be paid (by check): An advance request made on behalf of another employee will not be processed. All completed Cash Advance Request Forms must also be signed by an employee (other than the Requestor) who has authority over the fund’s budget. Where the funds will be drawn from an operating budget, the Requestor’s supervisor must approve and sign.
Cash advance checks will be processed according to A/P’s check processing schedule. Requestors will need to pick up their cash advance checks from the A/P office if they are not set up for direct deposit. Cash advances will not be paid more than 30 days prior to the time the Requestor expects to incur the expense. For example, a cash advance for a Requestor traveling on June 30th will not be paid prior to May 30th. Advances for airline travel will not be paid more than 60 days prior to expected flight date. For example, a cash advance for a Requestor traveling on June 30th will not be paid prior to April 30th.
B. Clearing a Cash Advance; Tax Consequences of Uncleared Advances
Requestors must clear their advance within 45 days after the expenses are paid or incurred. For example, if a Requestor travels for College business from June 30th to July 2nd, the Requestor must clear the travel expenses by August 16th. NOTE: The Business Office strongly recommends that advances be cleared within 30 days after expenses are paid or incurred. In our experience, we have found that the longer an advance is outstanding, the more likely receipts will be lost, requiring funds to be returned to the College.
Per IRS regulations, outstanding advances over 60 days from the date expenses are paid or incurred are subject to income tax withholding and payment of social security, Medicare, and FUTA taxes for the first payroll period following the end of the 60-day period. The outstanding advances will be charged to the Requestor’s departmental budget as salary expense. By obtaining a cash advance and signing the Cash Advance Request form, the Requestor agrees that an uncleared advance will be reported to the IRS on their W-2 as taxable compensation.
Please return any unused cash to the cashier during normal window hours and attach the Cashiering receipt to your employee Expense Reimbursement Form. Do not return unspent cash to A/P.
C. Contact information
For questions regarding cash advances, please contact Arlyne Lariosa, Senior Accountant, at x1418.
For status of payment, please contact Accounts Payable Manager, at x2848.
V. POLICY HISTORY.
Responsible Officer(s): Controller
Effective Date: prior to July 2012
Last Revised Date: February 2024