Retire an expense advance
After you've spent an advance, show what you really spent with receipts, then hand back what's left or get paid what you overspent.
Before you start
- Request an expense advanceYou can only retire an advance that was requested, approved and paid to you.
- Set up expensesHR sets whether you may retire an advance in parts, and whether overdue advances are recovered from payroll.
- Set up expense categories and typesThe requisition's type sets the retirement deadline and grace period.
In this article
Retiring an advance means accounting for it: you list what you actually spent, with receipts, so the advance can be closed. You do it after the period the advance covered. If you spent less, you hand back the rest. If you spent more, the company pays you the difference.
Steps
Find the advance
Open My Expenses and select the Advances tab (or select My Advances in the menu).
- Advances lists your requisitions and advances.
- Outstanding advances: the total you still have to retire, and how many are overdue.
- Each advance with its status. Select View details to open it.
An advance can be retired once it's Outstanding (paid to you). If one is overdue, a red banner at the top of My Expenses has a Retire now button.
Start the retirement
Open the advance and select Retire advance. The Retire an advance page shows Still to account for, the due date, and three steps: Itemise, Balance and Approve.
Select Start retirement. You'll see Retirement started: your estimated lines are pre-filled. Replace them with what you actually spent.
If a retirement is already in progress, select Continue instead.
Itemise what you really spent
The form works like a claim: see Claim an expense. For each line, correct the Date, Category and How much? to what you really spent, attach the receipt (or tick I don't have a receipt for this and give a reason), and add lines for anything you didn't estimate. Save as you go.
On the right, three boxes compare Advanced, Spent and To return (or Owed to you).
Choose how to settle the balance
- Spent less than the advance: under How will you settle it? choose Deduct from my next payroll or I'll refund by transfer. If you refund, attach the transfer evidence under Supporting documents.
- Spent more: the difference is paid to you after approval.
- Spent exactly the advance: nothing to settle.
If your company allows partial retirements, any balance simply stays outstanding and you can retire the rest later.
Submit the retirement
Select Submit retirement. It goes to your line manager, then finance.
What happens next
- Your line manager approves it: see Approve expenses.
- Finance verifies the spend: see Verify expenses.
- Finance settles the balance: records your refund, raises the payroll deduction, or pays you the overspend. See Pay out expenses.
- The advance moves to Retired.
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| This advance can't be retired right now | Finance is already recovering it through payroll. Talk to finance if that's wrong. |
| Only an outstanding advance can be retired. | It hasn't been paid yet, or it's already closed. |
| N days overdue: please retire it today. | The deadline has passed. Retire it straight away. |
See every step on the document page: Track your expenses.