Whatis petty cash book? How it is prepared? (2024)

FAQs

What is petty cash book and how it is prepared? ›

Petty Cash Book is used for recording payment of petty expenses, which are of smaller denominations like postage, stationery, conveyance, refreshment, etc. Person who maintains petty cash book is known as petty cashier and these small expenses are termed as petty expenses.

What Is Petty Cash? A petty cash fund is a small amount of company cash, often kept on hand (e.g., in a locked drawer or box), to pay for minor or incidental expenses, such as office supplies or employee reimbursem*nts.

Petty cash is a small amount of money kept on hand for small purchases or expenses. It is typically kept in a locked box or other secure location and is often used to pay for minor office supplies, postage, or travel expenses. Typically, a petty cash fund is established and then a custodian is assigned to manage it.

Cash Book format is prepared as a ledger A/c having two sides i.e. Debit and Credit and columns of Date, Particulars, Journal Folio, and Amount on each side. A Cash Book is an Original Entry (or Prime Entry) book in which all cash and bank transactions are documented chronologically.

A petty cash book is created to facilitate small payments in a business or organization. It caters for items such as postage and stamps, bus fare and stationery. It is meant to meet the day-to-day expenses and is entrusted in the hands of a petty cashier.

It is easy to record transactions in a petty cash book. Avoids confusion by recording petty expenses separately. It saves time and effort of the chief cashier. It is audited at the end of an accounting period, therefore there is less chance of errors.

This petty cash book has two sides: the credit side and the debit side. In the particulars column – a single column – the particulars of cash receipts and expenses. In the other column, the debit and credit dates are mentioned. Additionally, the money received from the head cashier is written on the debit money column.

The petty cash journal entry is a debit to the petty cash account and a credit to the cash account. The petty cash custodian refills the petty cash drawer or box, which should now contain the original amount of cash that was designated for the fund. The cashier creates a journal entry to record the petty cash receipts.

Petty Cash Maintenance

Imprest System: The most common and widely used method of maintaining petty cash. A fixed amount of money is set aside for petty cash, and a cashier is appointed to manage it. The cashier is responsible for maintaining, recording, and reconciling the petty cash fund at the end of each period.

What is a petty cash book? ›

The petty cash book is the record of petty cash expenditures that are sorted by date. In most cases, this petty cash book is a ledger book and not a computer record. This book is a part of the manual record-keeping system in the accounting department.

The simplest is a single column cash book. In a single column cash book, receipts will be recorded on the left, and payments or cash disbursem*nt is recorded on the right. Receipts are referred to as 'debit entry' and payments as 'credit entry.

The difference between a petty cash book and a cash book is that a petty cash book is used to record small and repeated transactions whereas a cash book is used to record transactions of larger sums.

Preparation is mostly done by Imprest System as it is more convenient. In this system, petty cashier is given a pre-defined sum of the money for a period. At the end of the period, the amount spent by him is reimbursed by main cashier so that the petty cashier has the same amount again at the start of the period.

This petty cash book has two sides: the credit side and the debit side. In the particulars column – a single column – the particulars of cash receipts and expenses. In the other column, the debit and credit dates are mentioned. Additionally, the money received from the head cashier is written on the debit money column.

Petty cash book is a book used in accounting for recording small and repetitive transactions that are of little value. It records small transactions such as postage, telegram, stationery etc.