Policy: 301-Cash Advances
Date: 12/11/2007 (Updated 08/20/2008)

Statement of Policy:

All Cash Advances may only be given to authorized/permanent UW employees or Department. The cash advances are issued for a specific purpose and may not be used for any other purpose than expressed on the Cash Advance Request Form. The use of funds for all advances must be properly accounted for within 30 days after the end of the advance period.

All Cash Advances require, at minimum, monthly review and reconciliation to the authorized cash advance levels and quarterly reporting of expenditures by using the Cash Advance Accounting Form.

Cash Advances are intended to allow authorized UW employees/departments to make the above listed payments more quickly and efficiently than the normal payment process. It is essential for the individual or department responsible for the advance to maintain timely, accurate, and complete accounting records, advance information, and bank account reconciliations. Cash Advances are provided from the Department funding Accounts, and must be accounted for and repaid as required by the Custodian Agreement within 30 days of the advance end date. Any portion of the Cash Advance not accounted for must be returned to UW Cash Management in the form of a check payable to “University of Wisconsin-Madison” and attached to the Cash Advance Accounting form.

Payments to research subjects are paid by either a PIR Form (Payment to Individual Form), Replenishable Cash Advance, or Temporary Cash Advance.  In general, a log must be kept for all disbursements, including name, mailing address, social security number, signature of recipient, amount paid to each individual, and payment date except for de minimus. 

Payments to a Nonresident Alien (NRA):  All payments to NRA’s must be processed through a Payment to Individual Report (PIR) and must include documentation as outlined in http://www.bussvc.wisc.edu/howto/acct/requiredtx.html.  All other policy and procedural guidelines regarding research subject payments remain the same except for the de minimus amount section of Policy: 103-Payments to Human Subjects (http://www.bussvc.wisc.edu/acct/policy/human_subjects/humanpol.html).  The de minimus amount section does not apply to payments to NRA’s because of the documentation required by the IRS for all payments to NRA’s, as noted above.

De minimus payments are $99.00 and under per transaction and less than $300 in total for an individual. For de minimus payments, you are not required, but encouraged to obtain a social security number and signature from each subject. 

One-time Research Subject Payments to UW students which are $100 or less per calendar are deemed independent contractors of the institution and do not need to be paid through payroll.  Any payments greater than $100 to a UW student must be paid through payroll. See FPPP #31 for more details.

All payments $300 and over to an individual must be submitted on the PIR Form including the home mailing address and the social security number. 

Research payments to UW employees are treated the same as non employees. These payments are not considered income or wages and therefore UW employees will not need to be payrolled for their services. All other policy and procedural guidelines regarding research subject payments remain the same for these payments. Please refer to the e-mail that was sent to DBR’s on 11/14/08.

See 103-Payments to Human Subjects web site and 101-Payments to Individuals web site.

Temporary Advances are only available to authorized/permanent UW Madison employees for project/program expenses. These advances are issued to the custodian only and cannot be issued for another person working for the custodian. If the temporary advance is for individual travel , please refer to 302-Travel Advance Policy.

Temporary advances are generally made for time periods of three months or less and can be expensed in increments or all at once. This is done by advancing the funds on the department's funding sources and accounting for expenditures by expensing them to specific funding strings. Temporary advances will accommodate the process for group travel.

Replenishable Funds and Change Funds are Cash Advances available to Departments or extramural projects.

Replenishable advances are generally set up for a period of one year to three years. They require a UW Madison checking account established and set up by UW Cash Management. These bank accounts cannot be used to purchase gift cards nor to request cash withdrawls. The balance in the bank account is kept at the authorized cash advance amount by recording expenditures on the Cash Advance Accounting Form and using specific department funding strings. At a minimum, monthly review and reconciliation to authorized Cash Advance levels are required for all activity incurred within these checking accounts. Quarterly reporting of expenditures is required by using the Cash Advance Accounting Form.

Change funds are made for an indefinite time period to a Department operating a cashiering function which requires making change for retail sales and/or a petty cash expenditure operation. This is done by advancing the funds on the department's funding sources. A balance in the account is kept at the authorized amount by accounting for expenditures on a monthly basis and charging them directly to specific funding strings.

All types of Cash Advances require the completion of the Cash Advance Individual/Department Custodial Agreement, signed by authorized departmental personnel and monthly reconciliation of the authorized advance amount to the cash on hand or bank account balance.

Related Procedure(s):

101-Payments to Individuals

103-Payments to Human Subjects

301-Cash Advances

Who should know this policy?

Deans, Directors, and Staff dealing with Cash Advances

Related Documents:

Cash Advance Request Form

Cash Advance Accounting Form

Cash Advance Individual/Department Custodial Form

PIR Payment to Individual Report Form

Contacts:

Sharon Hughes | Barb Bausch | Cash Management

Margie Burris (for which expenses are allowed)

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