Client Hands You Cash Up Front? Track Every Dollar Against It.
A client fronts you $500 for a shoot — that's not income, it's their money you're holding. ExpenseBot is a cash advance expense tracker that logs the float, tags your project spending, and shows the running balance so you always know what to refund or bill back.
No credit card. Works with the Gmail and Google Sheet you already use.
The $500 shoot float problem
A client hands you $500 to cover parking, props, and craft services for a shoot. Generic expense trackers have one bucket for money in, so that $500 lands as income — and suddenly your books say you earned money you actually have to spend on the client's behalf and give the rest back. Mix it into revenue and you overstate your earnings, inflate your tax, and lose track of exactly what's left to refund.
A client cash advance is a float: pass-through money you hold against expenses you'll pay for someone else. It needs to be tracked against the spending it's meant to cover — not counted as profit. That's the whole job of client float tracking software, and it's exactly what ExpenseBot was built to do (originally for a working photographer holding client budgets).
How to track a client cash advance
You can also log an advance by voice — say "Acme Productions gave me 500 cash advance for the shoot" and ExpenseBot detects the credit, pre-checks the toggle, and asks you to confirm. Prefer to watch it once end-to-end? See the 90-second walkthrough following a video producer from a $500 advance to the final refund and invoice.
Who tracks client floats this way
Anyone who receives a client's money up front to spend on their behalf needs to track client cash advance spending separately from their own income:
- Photographers & video producers — the origin use case: a client fronts a shoot budget for props, locations, and craft services.
- Film & event production — petty cash and per-project floats that have to reconcile to the dollar. See the film production expense tracker.
- Agencies running ad or media budgets on a client's behalf — track spend against the retainer or advance. See how agencies use it.
- Event planners holding deposits to pay vendors — know exactly what's spent and what's left.
- Contractors & freelancers who front materials against a client advance. Popular with freelancers.
Because every advance and expense carries a client tag, you can also see profit by client once the float is settled and any markup is billed.
This is a float tracker — not a loan
To be clear: this is not a merchant cash advance, financing, or lending product. "Cash advance" here means the client's own money, handed to you up front to cover project costs. ExpenseBot tracks that float and your spending against it — it doesn't lend money. If you're a business that receives client advances and needs a clean, auditable record of where each dollar went, this is for you.
Want the full step-by-step?
This page covers the tool. For the complete walkthrough — logging the advance, handling a partial refund, and generating the invoice — read our detailed guide: How to track client cash advances. You can also bill a client and generate an invoice straight from the tagged expenses.
Keep the client's money separate from yours
Start free, log your first advance in under a minute, and always know what's left to refund. Everything lives in your own Google Drive — you own the data.
Cash advance tracking — FAQ
Is a client cash advance income?
No. When a client hands you money up front to spend on their behalf — parking, props, ad spend, craft services, materials — that's a client float, not income. It's pass-through money you're holding against expenses you'll pay for them. Recording it as income overstates your earnings and your tax. ExpenseBot logs it with a Credit toggle so it lands as a client-tagged credit, not revenue.
How do I track a cash advance from a client?
Add Expense → Add Manual Expense → check the "Credit / refund (money in)" box. Enter who it's From (the client) and the Amount received, then tag it to that client. No category is needed — it's auto-applied as "Cash advance received." From then on, tag your project spending to the same client and the Open Balances widget on the Income tab keeps a running tally: advance minus what you've spent.
What happens to the leftover money at the end of a project?
When the project wraps, the Open Balances / "Client advances" widget shows the net float remaining. If money is left over, refund it (a deep-link takes you straight to log the refund). If you overspent, bill the shortfall back to the client. Either way you can generate an audit-ready invoice showing the advance, what was spent, and the balance.
Can I log a cash advance by voice?
Yes. Say it naturally — for example "Acme Productions gave me 500 cash advance for the shoot" — and ExpenseBot detects the credit language, pre-checks the Credit toggle, and asks you to confirm before saving. Refunds work the same way by voice.
Who is this for?
Anyone who receives client money up front to spend on the client's behalf: photographers and video producers, film and event production, agencies running ad or media budgets, event planners, and contractors who front materials. If a client fronts you a budget and expects the leftover back — or a clean accounting of where it went — this keeps every dollar tracked against the advance.
Is this a merchant cash advance or a loan?
No — this is not financing, lending, or a merchant cash advance product. "Cash advance" here means the client's own money handed to you up front to cover project costs (a float). ExpenseBot tracks that float and your spending against it. It does not lend money.
Can my accountant see how the advance was spent?
Yes. Every entry lives in your own Google Sheet with the client tag, and the Open Balances widget plus the generated invoice give a clear, auditable trail: how much came in, what it was spent on, and what was refunded or billed back. You own the data — export it or share the sheet with your accountant.