What is the Petty Cash Book?
The petty cash book is a recordation of petty cash expenditures, sorted by date. In most cases, the petty cash book is an actual ledger book, rather than a computer record. Thus, the book is part of a manual record-keeping system. The petty cash book has declined in importance, as companies are gradually eliminating all use of petty cash, in favor of using company credit cards.
Accounting for Petty Cash
There are two primary types of entries in the petty cash book, which are a debit to record cash received by the petty cash clerk (usually in a single block of cash at infrequent intervals), and a large number of credits to reflect cash withdrawals from the petty cash fund. These credits can be for such transactions as payments for meals, flowers, office supplies, stamps, and so forth.
A somewhat more useful format is to record all debits and credits in a single column, with a running cash balance in the column furthest to the right, as shown in the following example. This format is an excellent way to monitor the current amount of petty cash remaining on hand.
