Cash floats for drivers' tolls and border costs
How a transporter gives drivers money for tolls and border costs and settles it after the trip: a float, an advance or an expense claim.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Logistics businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
A long-distance trip costs money before the freight invoice is even raised. Tolls on the highway, a parking fee at the truck stop, clearing charges at the border, a tyre repair on the side of the road, a night's accommodation when the border closes before the truck reaches the front of the queue. The driver needs cash or a way to pay, and the business needs to know, afterwards, where every cent went.
Many transporters handle this informally: cash from the safe, a phone call, a handful of slips when the driver returns, and a balance nobody quite reconciles. This article sets out three cleaner ways to fund drivers' trip costs in Achekam, and how to settle each one, for transporters in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
Float, advance or expense claim: pick one method
Each method suits a different kind of cost. The mistake is to mix them on one trip, so that nobody can tell whether a slip has already been claimed, deducted or settled.
| Method | Money given | Settled by | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trip float | Before the trip, a set amount | Slips and returned cash after the trip | Known, recurring costs such as tolls and border fees |
| Expense claim | Nothing in advance | The driver claims; repaid with pay | Occasional, unplanned costs drivers pay themselves |
| Salary advance | A loan to the driver | Deductions from pay until repaid | Personal needs, not business costs |
Agree in writing which costs go through which method, and give drivers a one-page summary.
Expense claims through self-service, repaid on the next run
For costs a driver pays from their own pocket, the cleanest route is an expense claim. A staff member whose login is linked to their payroll record can submit expense claims for payroll to decide. An approved claim is repaid on the next run.
The driver keeps the slip, submits the claim with the trip reference and hands the slip in; payroll decides it, ideally once the transport manager has confirmed the trip. Reimbursements are one of the variable inputs a pay run carries, so the repayment goes through payroll with the driver's pay rather than out of the safe. Pay runs can be monthly, fortnightly or weekly, so a driver on weekly pay is repaid on the next weekly run.
This method keeps the business from holding cash at all. Its drawback is that drivers carry the cost until payday, which may be unfair on a long cross-border trip.
Advances recovered from pay until repaid
Salary advances and staff loans are recorded and recovered from each pay run until repaid. An advance is the right tool when a driver needs money for personal reasons before payday.
It is the wrong tool for trip costs. An advance is a loan to the driver: the driver owes it back, whatever the trip cost. Using advances for tolls means the driver repays business costs out of their wages, or the business has to reverse deductions every time slips come in. Keep advances for personal needs, and use a float or a claim for the trip.
There is one sensible use at the end of the process: if a float shortfall cannot be explained after the trip, and the driver agrees in writing, the shortfall can become an advance recovered from pay. Take advice on the law on deductions from pay in your country before doing so.
Settling a float with slips after the trip
A trip float works like petty cash on wheels. The AccountingTools petty cash procedure explains how such a fund is run and replenished against vouchers, and the same discipline applies to a driver's float.
Set up a float account for each driver, or one "Driver floats" asset account with the driver's name in every journal description. Each business can add the accounts it needs. When the driver returns:
- Collect every slip and the cash left over, and count it with the driver.
- Post a manual journal that debits the expense accounts, such as tolls, border and clearing fees, parking and accommodation, and credits the driver's float with the total of the slips.
- Bank the leftover cash and credit the float with it.
- The float should then be nil for that trip; anything left is a shortfall to explain.
A business can post manual journals, and an unbalanced journal is refused, so the slips and the float must add up. Where a slip shows VAT and your adviser agrees it can be claimed, split the VAT onto its own line in the journal. Settle every float within a few days of the trip; floats left open across trips are where cash quietly disappears.
Many fleets use toll cards or tags instead of cash for tolls; toll card debits covers how those are recorded.
Posting the bank withdrawal
The float leaves the business as a bank withdrawal, an EFT to the driver, or a mobile-money transfer. A business imports bank statements as PDF, CSV, Excel, OFX, QIF, MT940 or CAMT.053, and bank lines are matched by suggestion, with a person accepting each match. A line not yet in the books becomes a suggested journal a person approves.
When the float payment appears, approve it against the driver's float account, not an expense. Posting a float straight to "Tolls" is the most common error: the expense is then recorded twice, once when the money goes out and again when the slips are posted, or it is never checked against slips at all.
At month end, list the open floats in the trial balance. A float still open from a trip that ended weeks ago needs chasing, and trips that straddle month end may need their costs accrued, as explained in month-end accruals.
Choose, then train
Pick one method for each kind of cost, set up the float accounts, and walk every driver through what to keep and hand in. The first month will be untidy; by the third, settling a trip should take minutes.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
