Chapter 6: Request travel Imprest

6.1 Approval for Imprest processing

An imprest is a sum of money that the organisation advances to an officer so that the officer can pay for official expenses, with the condition that the money is accounted for afterwards with receipts and any unspent balance is returned. A travel imprest is an imprest given for one particular trip, to meet costs such as local transport, meals, accommodation not paid directly by the office and small incidental costs. It is different from a petty cash float, which stays with a custodian and is topped up from time to time, because a travel imprest is issued for a single purpose and must be cleared when the trip ends.

Because an imprest puts the organisation's money in an individual's hands before the expenses are proved, no payment is made without approval. Approval does three jobs: it confirms that the trip is authorised, that the amount asked for is reasonable and within the budget, and that the officer is entitled to receive it. The details of approval, such as the limits and the officers who may sign, are set in the organisation's financial regulations and travel policy, and the administrator works within them.

Those who normally take part in approval:

• The officer: asks for the imprest and gives the estimate of costs.
• The immediate supervisor: confirms that the trip is necessary and that the estimate is sensible.
• The administrator: checks that the request is complete and consistent with the approved travel clearance and prepares it for finance.
• The accounts or finance officer: checks the budget, the rates used and whether the officer has any earlier imprest not yet cleared.
• The authorising officer: a manager with the delegated authority to approve spending of this size, who gives the final approval for payment.

6.1.1 Imprest processing procedure.

Imprest processing is the sequence of steps from the officer's request to the approval of payment. It is the first half of the imprest cycle, which is completed when the officer receives the money and, later, surrenders it. The administrator follows the sequence in order and keeps each document on the file, so that anyone can trace who approved what and when.

Steps in processing an imprest for approval:

1. Confirm the trip is authorised: the administrator checks that a travel clearance exists for the trip and notes its reference, because an imprest cannot be approved for a trip that has not been cleared.
2. Receive the imprest request: the officer submits the request form with the purpose of the trip, the destination, the dates and an itemised estimate of costs.
3. Check the request for completeness: the administrator confirms that every part of the form is filled in, that the dates agree with the clearance and that the officer's signature and date are present.
4. Check the estimate: each item is compared with the rates in the travel policy and the arithmetic of the estimate is re-added, and any item above the allowed rate is returned to the officer to be corrected.
5. Obtain the supervisor's recommendation: the supervisor signs to confirm that the trip is necessary and the estimate reasonable.
6. Verify with accounts: the accounts officer confirms that funds are available in the budget line for the trip and that the officer has no imprest from an earlier trip that has not been surrendered.
7. Obtain final approval: the authorising officer signs the request, within the limit of authority held, and the approval is recorded with the date.
8. Pass the approved request on for payment: the administrator forwards the signed request to accounts with the clearance copy attached, and the payment is then prepared as described under Procedures for obtaining travel Imprest.

Example: a hardware distributor's sales officer asks for an imprest for a three-day trip to meet stockists in another town. The administrator checks the clearance and finds that the estimate uses a daily meal allowance above the rate in the travel policy. She returns the form to the officer for correction and, once it is corrected and signed by the supervisor, sends it to the accounts officer. Accounts finds that the officer's last imprest has not yet been surrendered, so approval is held until the earlier imprest has been cleared. The administrator tells the officer the reason and the date on which the request can go forward.

Points the administrator keeps in mind:

• Segregation of duties: the person who requests the money, the person who recommends it and the person who approves it are different people.
• Authority limits: a request above a manager's limit goes to the officer who holds the higher authority.
• Time: the request is processed early enough for the money to be paid before the officer leaves.
• Records: the request, clearance reference, approvals and dates are filed together.