What is the proper accounting procedure for travel advances?
Travel advances should not be charged to a Department of State Health Services (DSHS) contract. An advance is not an expense, but rather constitutes a loan to an employee. Only the actual travel expense incurred may be charged to a contract. Travel advances should be recorded in the general ledger as an account receivable for the individual employee receiving the advance. When the employee has completed the trip and submitted a travel voucher for the expenses incurred, the total costs of the trip should be credited to the advance account and the total expenses charged to the appropriate expense account. If the employee incurred allowable expenses in excess of the advance, a check for the difference should be issued to the employee and debited to the travel advance account. If the employee incurred allowable expenses which were less than the amount of the advance, the employee should repay the difference and the receipt recorded as a credit to the advance account.
