Advances, reimbursements, and budgets

Rifena separates employee spend into two journeys:

• Advances: the company provides money first, then recovers it through payroll, reconciles it against actual expenses, or records it as a payment.
• Expense claims: the employee has already used personal funds for a business expense and asks the company to reimburse them.

The forms, states, and closing steps are different. Do not create an expense claim to replace advance reconciliation, and do not create an advance after the employee has already paid.

Requester: the employee or someone allowed to submit on their behalf.

Approver: the person assigned to the current approval step; not the beneficiary, requester, or creator of that record.

Payment owner: accounting or the person responsible for payments.

Choose the right journey

Situation	Journey	Final result
The company pays first and recovers the amount gradually through payroll	Advance — Wage recovery	Settled after the full amount is recovered
The company pays first for a trip or expense that needs receipts	Advance — Advance & reconcile	The difference is collected or paid, then the record is Settled
The company pays an amount that does not need recovery or receipt reconciliation	Advance — Record payment	The payment is confirmed and the record is closed
The employee has already used personal funds	Expense claim	Paid after the payment is processed and confirmed

Prepare before requests arrive

The spend administrator opens Payroll → Employee Spend and checks the three areas below.

Advance types

Under Advance type config, select Add advance type, then enter:

• a recognisable name and code;
• one Settlement strategy;
• a Maximum amount, if applicable;
• Require receipt for types reconciled against evidence;
• Default recovery periods for wage recovery; and
• the Active state.

Each type has one settlement strategy. If the strategy is wrong, correct the type before an employee submits a request. Do not try to move a request through a journey different from the one shown on the record.

Spend policy

Under Spend policy, an authorised user can set:

• Max per expense claim;
• Require receipt above; and
• Budget alert threshold.

Select Save, then read the preview to confirm which thresholds apply. An empty field removes that limit; an empty alert threshold uses the default shown on the screen.

Budgets

Under Budgets, select Create budget when spend needs to be tracked against a plan. Enter the name, date range, total budget, and owner, then add Budget lines. A requester can assign an expense to an open line.

The budget compares Planned, Actual, and Remaining amounts. Near limit and Over budget are review signals; they do not approve, reject, or otherwise change a request automatically.

Advance: from request to settlement

1. The employee creates a request

Open My advances and select New advance.

1. Select an Advance type.
2. Enter the Amount, Title, and Reason.
3. For Wage recovery, enter the Recovery periods.
4. For Advance & reconcile, add the Destination, Trip start, and Trip end when relevant.
5. Check the maximum amount shown on the form.
6. Create the request and confirm that it becomes Pending approval.

If no advance type is available, contact the administrator. The administrator can follow Configure advance types from the empty-state message.

2. The approver decides

Open Payroll → Employee Spend → Advances, select To review, and open the correct request.

1. Check the beneficiary, type, settlement strategy, amount, reason, and travel dates when present.
2. Select Approve when the details are correct.
3. Otherwise, select Reject and give a reason that tells the requester what needs to change.

An accepted request must display Approved. The creator or beneficiary cannot approve their own request.

3. Accounting disburses the money

On an Approved request, select Disburse.

• Select Create payment voucher now for a bank or cash payment voucher; or
• select Create with next payroll cycle when the screen offers a separately scheduled payment with the next payroll processing cycle.

Track the voucher under Payments. When it is complete, return to the source request and select Confirm advance disbursed. Completing the payment voucher does not close the advance automatically; confirmation on the source record is still required.

4. Finish through the selected strategy

Wage recovery

After confirming disbursement, open Wage recovery and monitor Recovered and Remaining. This journey works only when an active advance-deduction component exists in the payroll configuration.

Review progress after every payroll cycle. The request is complete only when the remaining amount is zero and its state is Settled.

Advance & reconcile

When actual expenses are available, open the Disbursed request and select Reconcile.

1. Add at least one expense line.
2. For each line, enter the amount, category, date, description, and budget line when applicable.
3. Attach a receipt to each required line. Rifena accepts JPG, PNG, WebP, and PDF files.
4. Compare Actual total with the Advance amount and read the Difference.
5. Submit the reconciliation and confirm that it becomes Reconciled.

If the employee returns money, create a receipt voucher for the excess. If the company tops up, create a payment voucher for the shortage. After the related voucher is complete, return to the request and select Confirm advance settled.

Record payment

This type has no wage-recovery or receipt-reconciliation step. After the money has been processed and confirmed, use the close or settle action shown on the request. Check the final state; do not assume a completed payment voucher has closed the source record.

Expense claim: reimburse money already spent

1. The employee creates a request

Open My reimbursements and select New reimbursement.

1. Enter a clear Title.
2. Add at least one expense.
3. For each expense, enter the Amount, Category, Budget / charge code when applicable, Description, and Date.
4. Attach a receipt. Valid formats are JPG, PNG, WebP, and PDF.
5. Check the Grand total, then submit the request.

Rifena blocks a request above Max per expense claim or with a receipt missing at or above the required threshold. Correct the reported line; do not split a request merely to avoid company policy.

2. The approver reviews it

Open Payroll → Employee Spend → Reimbursements, select To review, then check:

• the requester and business purpose;
• each amount, date, and category;
• receipts or supporting documents;
• the assigned budget; and
• the request total.

Select Approve or Reject with a reason. An accepted request must become Approved before accounting processes the money.

3. Accounting pays and confirms

On the Approved request, select Payout and choose one path:

• create a payment voucher now; or
• schedule Create with next payroll cycle.

Scheduling with payroll creates a separate payment voucher. As stated on the screen, it is not added to the payslip, income, tax, or insurance.

When the voucher is complete, return to the request and select Confirm reimbursement paid. The final result must be Paid.

Read the state to find the next action

State	Meaning	Usual next action
Pending approval	The request awaits a decision	The approver selects Approve or Reject
Approved	Accepted, but money is not yet confirmed	Accounting selects Disburse or Payout
Disbursed	The advance has been paid	Recover, reconcile, or close it through its strategy
Reconciled	Actual expenses have been recorded	Resolve the difference, then Settle
Settled	The advance is finished	No money-processing step remains on the record
Paid	The expense claim has been paid and confirmed	No money-processing step remains on the record
Rejected / Cancelled	The request will not continue	Read the reason; create a new request only when needed

If the result is not right

• Cannot create an advance: check for an Active type, an amount within the limit, and valid travel dates.
• Cannot submit an expense claim: open each line and find the amount over the cap or the receipt missing above the threshold.
• No approval action: check who owns the current step and confirm they are not the creator or beneficiary.
• The voucher is complete but the request state is unchanged: return to the source record and use Confirm advance disbursed, Confirm reimbursement paid, or Confirm advance settled, whichever is shown.
• Wage recovery does not progress: check the advance-deduction component and the related payroll cycle.
• Cannot cancel a next-payroll schedule: a payroll run may already have reserved or created the voucher; open the related voucher before continuing.

The journey is complete when

• Every request uses the correct advance or expense-claim journey
• The approver has checked amounts, evidence, and budget
• Every receipt or payment voucher has a clear result
• The source record has been confirmed after the voucher completed
• The advance displays Settled or the expense claim displays Paid
• Budgets and spend reports reflect the processed amount

Continue reading

• Monthly payroll cycle
• Offboard and rehire
• Payroll foundation
• For payroll and accounting
• Support for payment or voucher-state problems