Request or Approve a Cash Advance in Concur

Overview

Employees are able to request a cash advance in Concur to cover out-of-pocket expenses for travel or hosting. 

Important information when requesting a cash advance:

  • Delegates – Expense delegates are NOT able to submit cash advances on behalf of another employee. A delegate can create and save the cash advance on the employee's behalf, but the employee must submit their own cash advance in the Concur system.
  • Approval Workflow – Requests cannot be routed to multiple approvers. Check with the department to determine who is defined as a Cash Advance Approver in the employee's Concur Expense Profile.
  • Two Tier Approvals – Cash advance requests are approved by a single departmental approver and a Cash Advance Administrator at the Shared Services Center (SSC). Both approvers will reject requests with incorrect/incomplete data or which violate U-M Cash Advance policies.
  • Rejected Cash Advances – Rejected cash advance is returned to the employee for correction. Concur notifies the employee that the request is rejected and shows all comments as to why it was rejected. After making changes, employees can resubmit the cash advance for approval.

Cash advance requests must be approved electronically in Concur prior to being granted to employees. The approval process is two-tiered:

  • Unit Approval – The individual entered as the default cash advance request approver in the employee’s (i.e., requester’s) Expense Profile is responsible for ensuring that the request is complete and appropriate for the unit.
  • Cash Advance Administrator Approval – The SSC approves all cash advance requests prior to releasing the funds to employees.

Cash advance requests cannot be routed in Concur for multiple unit approvals.

This procedure provides instructions on how to:

Step-by-Step Process

Request a Cash Advance

Cash advance requests will be rejected if the proper data is not entered.

  1. Click Expense.

    Field locations for step 1

  2. Click Cash Advances.
  3. Click Request Cash Advance.
  4. Enter a Cash Advance Name.
    Note: The field is limited to 40 characters.

    Field locations for step 4-16

  5. Enter the requested Cash Advance Amount. The minimum amount that can be requested is $300.
  6. Enter a Business Purpose for the trip/event.
  7. Select a Travel Start Date and Travel End Date.
  8. Enter a Destination (e.g. Chicago, Illinois).
  9. If applicable, enter a Cash Advance Comment.
  10. If applicable, click Manage Attachments to attach documentation to the cash advance request.
    • Click Upload Cash Advance Attachment to attach documents.
    • Documents are combined if more than one is attached.
    • You cannot delete just one attachment. The combine attachment will be deleted.
  11. If a Default Cash Advance Approver is listed in the employee’s profile, the cash advance is automatically submitted to that approver for approval. Go to step 16.
    • If the employee does not have a Default Cash Advance Approver listed or wants to change the approver, click Cash Advance Timeline to add the approver before submitting.
  12. Click Edit next to the Approval Flow in the Cash Advance Timeline.

    Field locations for step 12

  13. Enter an approver in the Cash Advance Approval field.

    Field locations for steps 13-14

  14. Click Save Workflow.
  15. Click Close.
  16. Click Submit.
    Note: If Cash Advance Timeline or Manage Attachments is clicked before saving the cash advance, the system saves the cash advance automatically.
  17. Review the attestation and click Accept to submit the cash advance request.

    Field locations for step 17

  18. View the cash advance request status (including approvals) on the Active Cash Advances pane.

    Field locations for step 18

  19. If applicable, cash advance requests can be recalled after submission. Open the request and click Recall.

    Field locations for step 19

Approve a Cash Advance

Approval Guidelines

Approvers should review the cash advance request for the following required data:

Field Data/Format Example of Rejection Comment
Amount

The Amount should be a minimum of $300.
Requests $5,000 - $10,000 require approval by Department Chair for academic units, Department Manager for non-academic units, or Senior University Officer responsible for the fund charged.

Requests over $10,000 require approval from Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Vice President, major University Director, or Senior University Officer.
Rejected for insufficient Amount. Cash Advances should be for at least $300.
Business Purpose Reason for advance (i.e., conference or event name). Rejected for insufficient business purpose.
Travel Start Date Travel start date or event date. Rejected for insufficient date. Cash Advances should be requested within 30 days of the trip/event start date.
Travel End Date Travel end date or event date. Rejected for insufficient date. Cash Advances should be requested within 30 days of the trip/event start date.
Destination Conference or event location (City, State/Country). Rejected for insufficient Destination.
Comment Procurement does not require a comment, but your department may. Rejected for insufficient Comment data.

Important Information

Concur notifies approvers via a system-generated email (AutoNotification@concursolutions.com) when a cash advance request requires approval.
  1. Review the details in the email, including the Employee Name, Cash Advance Name, and Amount Requested to identify the request requiring approval.
  2. Click the link in the email to access Concur.
  3. Log in to Concur using your Uniqname and UMICH Password.

If a cash advance request is received that should be approved by another approver in the unit:

  • Verify who the appropriate approver is for the department or that employee.
  • Reject the request.
  • In the required Reject Cash Advance comment field, indicate that the employee enter the appropriate individual as their default cash advance approver in their Expense Profile and enter a new request.
  1. Click Required Approvals.

    Field locations for step 4

  2. Click Cash Advances.

    Field locations for steps 5-6

  3. Click the appropriate link in the Cash Advances list.
  4. Review the cash advance fields for required data.
    Note: See the Approval Guidelines above for more information.

    Field locations for steps 7-9

  5. Review the Documents tab for additional information. 
    Note: Adding documents is optional.
  6. Click Approve to approve the request,
    OR
    Click Send Back to Employee to reject the request.
    Note: This step only applies when approving a cash advance, not when rejecting a cash advance.
  7. Click Accept to attest as an authorized cash advance approver.

    Field locations for step 10

  8. Enter either an Approve Cash Advance Comment or Send Back to Employee Comment, as appropriate.
    Rejection comments are required and should include the reason for the rejection and any information to correct the request so that the employee can resubmit the request, if appropriate.

    Field locations for steps 11-12

  9. Click OK.