▶ How Can I Manage Petty Cash in Scribe?

How Can I Manage Petty Cash in Scribe?

The way petty cash should be dealt with on Scribe is dependent on how it is handled by the council:

1. Imprest system - the money spent out is reimbursed back to the agreed level
2. Clerk/RFO makes sundry purchases and is reimbursed 

Imprest System

This is when a petty cash fund is used for small, miscellaneous payments. The fund is periodically refilled (monthly, or when the balance falls below a certain level) to an agreed-upon amount by drawing from the current account.

Here's what you need to do in Scribe:

• Navigate to Menu Setup → Bank Balances. Select Petty Cash and input the opening balance as of the 1st of April (if not your first year using Scribe, this figure would have been transferred from the year-end process).

• When payments are made from the petty cash account, record them against Tender 'Petty Cash'. This deducts the amount spent from the opening balance of the petty cash account.

• To replenish the petty cash account, a cheque (or equivalent) will be issued from the current account. This must be recorded as a bank transfer, since it's merely shifting money within the council, not a distinct payment. Navigate to menu Bank → Bank Transfer and enter the transfer as going from the current account (or equivalent) to the petty cash account for the replenishment amount.

💡Bank transfers are reconciled like any other payment or receipt. Petty Cash cannot be manually reconciled in Scribe, as there is not a bank statement as such to reconcile against, therefore, petty cash transactions are treated as instantaneous.

Reimbursement of Sundry Payments 

In cases where the Clerk/RFO makes sundry purchases and is subsequently reimbursed, you don't need to use the 'Petty Cash' account. Instead, record the single reimbursement payment to the Clerk as a Payment from the relevant bank account. While records of personal payments will need to be kept, they don't have to be entered into the accounts as individual transactions.

Reviewing Petty Cash

As petty cash transactions are not reconciled (treated as instantaneous), it is important that you regularly review your petty cash position to ensure it's accuracy.

• Navigate to Menu Bank Reports → Accounts/Any Bank. Using the Filter button above the report, select Petty Cash from the drop-down and View Report. This displays the opening balance, all transactions recorded against the petty cash account, and the closing balance, which should correspond with the amount of physical cash in the petty cash tin.

• When running the Reconcile All Banks report, you must input the Petty Cash balance in the 'Bank Statement Amount' field - this is the actual money in the petty cash tin.

• If you prefer to reconcile your petty cash account similarly to other accounts, you could create the petty cash as if it were a bank account and use that instead of the existing 'Petty Cash' account.