Do you have petty cash that you use for small purchases like stamps, stationery or cupcakes for the team? There's many ways to manage petty cash, you could set a limit (such as $200) and replenish on a date each month, or just slip in $20 whenever the cupboards look bare. Regardless of your approach, you manage petty cash purchases similarly to a bank account: you deposit money into a petty cash account, record expenses against it and top it up with a transfer from another bank account (which could be an ATM withdrawal).
By default, your accounts list should have a petty cash account. Check your accounts list and, if you don't have one, set one up (it needs to be an Asset account with the Bank account type).
1. Deposit money into your petty cash account
Petty cash is usually started with money withdrawn from a business bank account. You might withdraw funds from an ATM or over the counter.
From the Banking menu, choose Spend money.
In the Bank account field, select the bank account your opening balance will come from (usually your business bank account).
Enter a Description of transaction.
Select whether the amounts are Tax inclusive or Tax exclusive.
In the Account column, choose your petty cash account.
Enter the Amount for the opening balance.
Enter a Description for this line item.
Select the N-T Tax code.
When you're done, click Save.
2. Record a petty cash purchase
You record petty cash purchases in the same way as other Spend Money transactions, just use the Petty Cash account rather than your bank account.
From the Banking menu, choose Spend money.
In the Bank account field, choose your petty cash account.
Enter a Description of transaction.
Select whether the amounts are Tax inclusive or Tax exclusive.
In the Account column, choose the applicable expense account.
Enter the Amount for the purchase.
Enter a Description for this line item.
Select the applicable Tax code. If unsure, check with your accounting advisor.
When you're done, click Save.
3. Reconcile the petty cash account (optional)
From time to time, you may want to reconcile your petty cash account to make sure it balances with your cash receipts. It also provides you with the reimbursement amount.
From the Banking menu, choose Reconcile accounts.
In the Account field, choose the petty cash account.
In the Statement date field, enter the current date.
Match the payments in the Reconcile accounts page with your cash receipts, marking the corresponding transactions off as cleared. You'll also need to reconcile the reimbursement deposit which you can check against your banking records.
When you're done, click Reconcile to reconcile the account.
4. Reimburse the petty cash account
You can use the Banking reconciliation report to work out how much you need to top up your petty cash to get it back to its required balance (Reporting menu > Reports > Banking reconciliation).
In our example, there's a remaining balance of $28.47 in the petty cash account, which means $71.53 is needed to return the balance to its original $100.
You can now record a spend money transaction to reimburse the account.
From the Banking menu, choose Spend money.
In the Bank account field, choose your business bank account.
Enter a Description of transaction.
Select whether the amounts are Tax inclusive or Tax exclusive.
In the Account column, choose your petty cash account.
Enter the Amount for the reimbursement.
Enter a Description for this line item.
Select the N-T Tax code.
When you're done, click Save.
After entering this transaction, the petty cash account balance should equal its original opening balance.