Petty cash vouchers a school's auditor can follow
What a school's petty cash vouchers and receipts should show, how to match them before each top-up, and how to file them for the auditor.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Education businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
A school's petty cash tin pays for the small things that keep a school running: milk for the staffroom, a replacement padlock for the sports store, taxi fare for a learner taken home sick, photocopies at the corner shop when the machine breaks down. Individually, none of it matters much. Together, over a year, it is real money, and it is money that leaves the school in cash with no bank statement behind it.
That is why auditors like to test petty cash. They pick a few payments and ask the bursary to show what was bought, who received the money and who approved it. If the answer is a crumpled till slip with no name on it, or nothing at all, the finding goes into the management letter. Good vouchers make the test easy to pass.
What every voucher should record
AccountingTools explains that each petty cash voucher should show the amount disbursed, the type of expense, the date and the person paid, with any receipt attached. Investopedia gives the same advice from the other direction: a slip or voucher recording the amount, date and purpose should be completed each time money is taken from the fund.
A school's voucher can be a simple pre-numbered form with these boxes:
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Voucher number | Pre-printed, in sequence |
| Date | The day the cash left the tin |
| Amount | In figures and in words |
| Purpose | "Padlock for sports store" |
| Expense type | Maintenance, refreshments, transport |
| Person paid | Name and signature |
| Approved by | The person allowed to authorise petty cash |
| Receipt attached | Yes, or the reason there is none |
Pre-numbered vouchers matter. A missing number in the sequence is the first thing an auditor will spot, and the first thing the bursar should spot.
Why the person paid signs it
AccountingTools advises that the person receiving petty cash should count the cash and sign the voucher, as proof that the custodian did not fill out the voucher and pocket the money. A voucher signed only by the custodian proves nothing about where the money went. When a teacher collects cash for a class outing, the teacher signs, not the bursary clerk who handed it over.
Matching receipts to vouchers before each top-up
AccountingTools explains that replenishing a petty cash fund means replacing the amount previously disbursed, by summarising all disbursements and issuing cash back to the fund for that amount. On replenishment, the amounts on the vouchers are recorded as expenses in the general ledger. Its guide to the petty cash procedure describes the whole cycle, from setting up the fund to reconciling and replenishing it.
Before every top-up, the custodian should:
- Count the cash in the tin.
- Add up the vouchers since the last top-up.
- Check that cash plus vouchers equals the fixed float.
- Check that each voucher has its receipt, or a note explaining why not.
- Hand the bundle to the bursar, who reviews it and approves the top-up.
If cash plus vouchers does not equal the float, the difference is investigated before any money is added. Topping up a shortfall without explaining it hides it permanently.
Scanning slips into Financial Intake
Achekam does not have a separate petty cash module, so a school runs its petty cash through general tools.
Supplier invoices and receipts uploaded to Financial Intake become suggested postings. AI can suggest how each one should be posted, but only a person approves and posts it. At each top-up, scan the receipts in the bundle and upload them to Financial Intake. The bursar then reviews each suggestion against its voucher, checks the account and amount, and approves it, so that the expenses reach the ledger with the receipt behind them.
The top-up itself, cash drawn from the bank to restore the float, can be recorded with a manual journal if it is not already coming through the bank statement. An unbalanced journal, or one dated in a closed month, is refused, and a posted journal is corrected only by reversing it.
Filing the voucher bundle by month
Document Centre is a folder-based store where the school uploads files or whole folders, then previews, downloads, renames, moves, tags, archives and searches them, and a new version keeps the earlier ones. Every stored file gets a SHA-256 fingerprint, executable files are refused by default, and every upload passes a malware check.
A simple structure works well:
- a folder for petty cash, with a subfolder per month;
- the scanned voucher bundle and the top-up reconciliation for that month in it;
- each file named with the month and the voucher number range it covers.
When the auditor asks for a particular voucher, the bursar can search for it and open it on screen, without unpacking a box from the storeroom. Keep the paper originals as well, for as long as the school's record-keeping rules require.
What an auditor will test, and the gaps that fail
An auditor testing petty cash will typically:
- pick vouchers from the ledger and ask for the original;
- check that each has a receipt, a signature from the person paid and an approval;
- look for gaps or duplicates in the voucher numbers;
- count the tin unannounced and compare it with the float;
- look for the same receipt claimed twice, or a purchase split to stay under a limit.
Failures that come up include vouchers without a recipient's signature, receipts without vouchers, and top-ups made without reconciling first. Surprise counts by someone other than the custodian are covered in petty cash duties and surprise counts, and petty cash for a project in petty cash on projects.
Order a book of pre-numbered vouchers and introduce the new form from the first day of next term.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
