Cash advance to clearance

The journey at a glance

A cash advance is money the company gives an employee before they spend it. The employee later clears the advance by showing what was spent, in an expense of type Advance Clearance linked to the advance.

1. Step 1New Advance RequestEmployeeSaved as Draft, then submitted. Status: Pending Approval.Does not post
2. Step 2ApprovalApproverStatus: Approved (shown as Awaiting Disbursement).Does not post
3. Step 3Disburse AdvancesFinanceCash goes out. Status: Disbursed.Posts
4. Step 4Spend the cashEmployeeKeep receipts. Watch the due date.Outside Winlium
5. Step 5New Expense (Advance Clearance)EmployeeLinked to the advance, then approved. Status: Partially Cleared or Fully Cleared.Posts
6. Step 6Return unspent cashFinanceNo screen in Winlium today.No screen

Step by step

Step	Document	Status after	Posts to ledger
1. Request	Advance request	Draft	No
2. Submit	Advance request	Pending Approval	No
3. Approve	Advance request	Approved (list shows Awaiting Disbursement)	No
4. Disburse	Advance request	Disbursed (list shows Clearance Due and the date)	Yes
5. Spend	none	no change	No
6. Clear	Expense of type Advance Clearance	Advance: Partially Cleared or Fully Cleared. Expense: Paid	Yes
7. Return cash	none today	not available	not available

Step 1. The employee requests the advance

• Screen: My Advances, then New Advance Request opens the New Advance Request form.
• What the employee does: Fill in Purpose and Requested Amount. Optionally pick an Expected Category, which later pre-fills the clearance. Attach files if useful. Select Save as Draft.
• Status afterwards: Draft. The advance gets a number such as ADV-001.
• Who takes over: Nobody yet.
• Ledger effect: None.

Winlium refuses the request when your expense policy does not allow advances, when your company has switched advances off (Allow Advance Requests), when the amount is above the maximum, or when you still have an uncleared advance and your company blocks a new one. See Advances.

Step 2. The employee submits the request

• Screen: The same form.
• What the employee does: Select Submit for Approval. There is no confirmation box. Winlium saves the form first.
• Status afterwards: Pending Approval. The form is locked.
• Who takes over: The approver. Winlium matches a workflow template, or uses the Default Advance Workflow from Expense Settings. An advance always goes to approval. The auto-approve threshold does not apply to advances.
• Ledger effect: None.

Once submitted, the employee cannot withdraw the request. If it needs to change, ask the approver to reject it. A rejected advance returns to the employee to edit and resubmit.

Step 3. The approver approves

• Screen: The Approvals inbox. See Approving expenses.
• What the approver does: Approve or reject. The approver cannot change the amount: the approved amount equals the requested amount.
• Status afterwards: Approved. In My Advances the status reads Awaiting Disbursement.
• Who takes over: Finance.
• Ledger effect: None. No money has moved yet.

Step 4. Finance disburses the advance

• Screen: Disburse Advances.
• What Finance does: Select Disburse on the row. In the Disburse Advance box choose Disbursement Method (Cash or Bank Transfer), choose the Bank Account for a bank transfer, add a Reference, and select Confirm.
• Status afterwards: Disbursed. Winlium sets the clearance due date to today plus the clearance period (your policy's Advance Clearance Days, else Advance Clearance Period (days) in Expense Settings, else 30). My Advances shows "Clearance Due" and that date.
• Who takes over: The employee, who now owes a clearance.
• Ledger effect: Posts with today's date.

Ledger impact: Disburse

Debit and credit entries for Disburse

Side	Account	Where the account comes from	Amount
Dr	Staff Advance	Expense Settings > Staff Advance Account	The approved amount
Cr	Bank or cash account	The account chosen in Bank Account. For Cash with no account chosen, Expense Settings > Default Petty Cash Account	The approved amount

Example only. An advance of ₦500,000.00 paid from the main bank account: debit Staff Advance ₦500,000.00, credit Bank ₦500,000.00.

Screenshot pending

Disburse Advance box with Disbursement Method set to Bank Transfer and a bank account chosen

1. 1Choose Cash or Bank Transfer.
2. 2Choose the bank account the money leaves from.
3. 3Confirm posts the disbursement.

Step 5. The employee spends the cash

This happens outside Winlium. Keep every receipt. The employee needs them for the clearance.

Step 6. The employee clears the advance with an expense

• Screen: My Expenses, then New Expense, then the New Expense form.
• What the employee does: Set Expense Type to Advance Clearance. In Link to Advance pick the advance. Winlium fills the first line with the advance's category, the description "Advance clearance" and the outstanding amount. Correct the lines to match the receipts, attach receipts, and select Save Draft, then Submit for Approval.
• Status afterwards: The expense goes through the usual approval (Awaiting Approval). When it is approved, the expense shows Paid (an advance clearance has no payment step) and the advance moves to Partially Cleared, or Fully Cleared when nothing is outstanding.
• Who takes over: The approver, then nobody.
• Ledger effect: Posts when the expense is approved. If the clearance total is at or below Auto-Approve Below, it posts when the employee submits.

Ledger impact: Approval of an Advance Clearance expense

Single stage

Debit and credit entries for Approval of an Advance Clearance expense

Side	Account	Where the account comes from	Amount
Dr	Category expense account	Expense Categories > Expense Account	Net amount of each line
Dr	VAT input account	Purchase account of each tax on the line	Tax amount of each tax entry
Cr	Staff Advance	Expense Settings > Staff Advance Account	Net plus tax

The amount counted against the advance includes tax. Example only. On the ₦500,000.00 advance, a clearance of ₦400,000.00 plus 7.5% VAT of ₦30,000.00 is ₦430,000.00. It debits Travel Expense ₦400,000.00 and VAT Input ₦30,000.00, and credits Staff Advance ₦430,000.00. The advance shows ₦430,000.00 cleared, ₦70,000.00 outstanding, status Partially Cleared.

Screenshot pending

New Expense form with Expense Type set to Advance Clearance and an advance picked in Link to Advance, with the first line filled in

1. 1Set Expense Type to Advance Clearance.
2. 2Pick your advance. It shows the amount still outstanding.
3. 3Winlium fills the first line. Change it to match your receipts.

You can clear one advance with several clearance expenses. Each approved one adds to the cleared amount.

Reminders and the due date

Winlium checks advances every morning.

• Before the due date. On the day that is exactly the number of days in Overdue Reminder (days) (Expense Settings) before the due date, Winlium sends the employee a reminder in the notification bell.
• After the due date. An advance that is still Disbursed or Partially Cleared moves to Overdue, and the employee gets an in-app message. My Advances shows "Overdue" and the number of days. A manager is told in the app once the advance is more than Escalate After (days) past due, when Winlium can find the employee's manager.
• No email. These reminders appear only in the notification bell. Winlium does not email them.

Finance can follow ageing in Advance Ageing and Advance Report.

Step 7. Unspent cash is returned

If the employee spent less than the advance, the leftover cash goes back to the company. Winlium has no screen to record this today. The advance keeps showing the leftover as Outstanding. Ask your finance team how they want to record returned cash, and keep the evidence with the clearance.

If the employee spent more than the advance, Winlium has no screen to pay the difference. The Staff Advance account then holds a credit for that amount.

What can go wrong

Where	Problem	Fix
Step 1	Advances not allowed, amount too high, an earlier advance not cleared	Advances
Step 2	No approval workflow matches	Approvals
Step 4	No bank account chosen, no Staff Advance account, closed period	Advances and Posting problems
Step 6	The advance is missing from Link to Advance	Frequently asked questions
Step 6	A receipt, category or policy rule blocks the clearance	Saving and editing an expense
Reminders	No email arrives	Known limits

Roles and handoffs

Step	Who	What they need
1 to 2	Employee	A custom role with the Expense advance permissions
3	Approver	To be named on the workflow step
4	Finance	A role that can open Disburse Advances and read the Chart of Accounts
6	Employee, approver	As in the claim journey

Today only the Owner role holds Expense permissions. Everyone else needs a custom role. See Roles and permissions.

Related

ConceptWorkflows and approvals ConceptExpense claim to reimbursement ConceptLedger impact