New Advance Request

Ask for a cash advance, send it for approval, and understand how it is paid and cleared.

LimitedChecked against the product 06 Oct 2026

Goal

Request money in advance for a planned cost, send the request for approval, and later account for the money.

Before you begin

Steps

Open the form
Go to My Advances and choose New Advance Request.
Screenshot pending
New Advance Request form with Purpose, Requested Amount and the Attachments uploader
1. 1Purpose and Requested Amount.
2. 2Attachments uploader.
Fill in the request
Enter the Purpose and the Requested Amount. Add the other fields if they help the approver. The helper under the amount shows the maximum allowed.
Attach support
Drop files in the Attachments area (a quote, an invoice or an approval e-mail).
Save
Choose Save as Draft. You see Advance request saved as draft.
Submit
Choose Submit for Approval. You see Advance request submitted for approval. The request is now locked.

Field reference

Field	Type	Required	Details
Purpose	Text	Yes	Error if empty: "Purpose is required".
Description	Text area	No
Expected Category	Dropdown	No	A rough idea of what the money is for. It does not limit how you clear the advance. It fills the first line of the clearance expense later.
Requested Amount	Number	Yes	Default: 0 Error if not above zero: "Requested amount must be greater than 0". The helper shows the maximum allowed: your policy's maximum, else the company default. The limit is checked when the request is first saved.
Currency	Dropdown	No	Choose the currency of the request, listed as code and description. See the warning on foreign currency in the Expense module overview.
FX Rate	Number	No	Default: 1 Hidden for the home currency.
Branch	Dropdown	No
Department	Dropdown	No	Used to choose the approval workflow.
Notes	Text area	No	Internal notes.
Attachments	File upload	No	PDF, images, .doc and .docx. Up to 10 files, 10 MB each. Files upload when you save, not when you pick them. You can remove a file with its X.

Notices on the form:

A red notice, Rejected: with the reason, appears on a rejected request.
A red notice says advance requests are not permitted under your policy. The buttons other than New are then disabled.
An amber notice warns that you still have an outstanding advance, when the company blocks a new request until the old one is cleared. The save is refused by the server in that case.

Buttons

Field	Type	Required	Details
Save as Draft	Button	No	Creates the request, or saves changes. Toasts: Advance request saved as draft, Advance request updated.
Submit for Approval	Button	No	Shown for new, Draft and Rejected requests. Saves, then sends to approval. Tooltip: Send this advance request through the approval workflow.
New	Button	No	Starts a blank form. On a new unsaved form it asks Discard Changes? with Discard or Cancel. On a saved request it leaves without asking.

Statuses and what happens next

You can edit a request only while it is Draft or Rejected. On this form the status badge shows a plain code (for example PENDING_APPROVAL), not the friendly words used in the list.

Statuses
Status	What it means
Draft	Editable.
Pending Approval	With the approvers. Locked, and no way to recall it.
Rejected	Editable. Any edit returns it to Draft.
Disbursed	Finance has paid you. A due date is set.
Overdue	Not cleared by the due date.
Fully Cleared	Nothing outstanding.

DraftPending Approvalwhen Submit for Approval (Requester)
Pending ApprovalRejectedwhen Reject in the approvals inbox (Approver)
DisbursedOverduewhen Daily check at 08:00 after the due date (Automatic)

After approval the advance is waiting for disbursement. Finance pays it on Disburse Advances. The due date is the payment day plus the clearance days from your policy, else the company default, else 30 days.

To account for the money, create an expense of type Advance Clearance and choose this advance in Link to Advance. See New Expense and Advance to clearance. Approved clearance expenses reduce the outstanding amount.

Reminders: a reminder shows in Winlium a set number of days before the due date, and a notice when the advance is overdue. They are not sent by e-mail.

Ledger impact

Ledger impact: Saving, submitting and approving an advance request

Does not post to the ledger.

Nothing is posted when you save, submit or when the request is approved. The ledger entry (Dr Staff Advance, Cr bank or cash) is made only when Finance disburses the money. See Disburse Advances.

Approvals

Approval is always required: there is no auto-approve for advances. The approver cannot change the amount; the approved amount equals the requested amount. You cannot approve your own request. See Workflows and approvals.

Reverse or void

You cannot recall or delete a submitted request. A rejected request can be edited and sent again. Ask an approver to reject a request you submitted by mistake.

Who can do this

You need expense:advances:create, expense:advances:update, expense:advances:read and expense:advances-submit:create. See Roles and permissions.

Employee

Nigerian notes

If something goes wrong

You have an outstanding advance (<ADV-nnn>) that must be cleared before requesting another

Appears: Save as Draft

Why it happens: You hold an advance that is disbursed, part-cleared or overdue, and the company blocks a new one.
How to fix it: Clear the earlier advance with an Advance Clearance expense, or ask Finance to record returned cash.

Requested amount exceeds the maximum advance amount of <max>

Appears: Save as Draft

Why it happens: The amount is above your policy or company maximum.
How to fix it: Lower the amount.

Advance requests are not permitted under your current expense policy. Contact your administrator.

Appears: Save as Draft

Why it happens: Your policy does not allow advances.
How to fix it: Contact your administrator.

Cash advance requests are disabled for this company

Appears: Save as Draft

Why it happens: Advances are switched off in Expense Settings.
How to fix it: Contact your administrator.

Only Draft or Rejected advance requests can be edited (current: <STATUS>)

Appears: Save

Why it happens: The request is locked.
How to fix it: You cannot change it now.

No approval workflow matches this advance request and no default workflow is configured. Please contact your administrator.

Appears: Submit

Why it happens: No advance workflow is set up.
How to fix it: Ask your administrator to set one.