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A service of Accounting & Financial Services, Accounts Payable Division

Travel Advance

About Advances
Travel advances are payments made before a trip takes place. They can be cash to an employee traveler or non-cash paid to vendors on behalf of employee or non-employee travelers.

Cash advances are granted when the traveler does not qualify for, or does not yet have, a corporate card. Cash advances are also issued to travelers seeking reimbursement before the trip takes place (e.g., they used a personal credit card to register for a conference and the credit card payment is due before the conference date). The amount requested shall not exceed the estimated out-of-pocket expenses to be incurred on the trip.

UC Davis provides the following programs to largely eliminate the burden of out-of-pocket expenses for official university business travelers:

• U.S. Bank VISA Corporate Credit Card Program - used for advances and expenses related to official travel
• Central Travel System (CTS) - for airfare purchases
• American Express Business Travel Account (BTA) - for State of California (YCAL) contracted airfares

Departments and travelers are strongly encouraged to use these programs to reduce departmental and administrative costs associated with administering cash advances.