When an agency's petty cash is over or short

How an estate agency reconciles its petty cash tin, investigates a difference, and records a shortage or overage in an over/short account.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 5 min read · For Real estate businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya

Every estate agency office has a cash tin somewhere. It pays for a set of keys cut for a new rental, coffee and biscuits for a Sunday show day, a courier to the conveyancer, parking outside a deeds office. The amounts are small and the slips are often scrawled on the back of a till receipt.

Then, at month end, the office administrator counts the tin, adds up the slips, and the two do not meet. The temptation is to put a note in the tin, top it up from the principal's wallet, or simply write the difference off. None of those leaves a trail anyone can follow later. This article walks through what to do instead, and how the difference ends up in the books.

Reconciling the tin before you decide anything

Investopedia describes the reconciliation in plain steps: subtract the current balance from the original balance to find how much was withdrawn, total all the petty cash slips and receipts, compare the two, and investigate any discrepancy.

For an agency with an imprest float, it looks like this in words:

• The float is the fixed amount the tin is meant to hold when full.
• The cash on hand is what you count today, notes and coins together.
• The withdrawals are the float less the cash on hand.
• The slips are every voucher, receipt and signed note for money taken out since the last top-up.

If the withdrawals equal the slips, the fund balances. If the withdrawals are larger than the slips, money has gone out without a record: the tin is short. If the slips add up to more than the withdrawals, there is more cash than there should be: the tin is over.

AccountingTools describes the same discipline from the custodian's side. Before the fund is replenished, the custodian completes a reconciliation form listing the remaining cash, the vouchers issued and any overage or underage, and an accounting staff member reviews and approves it. That form is the document the journal later rests on.

Why a count comes out wrong

Most differences in an agency's petty cash have dull explanations. The usual suspects:

• a payment made without a slip, often by an agent in a hurry before a viewing;
• a slip lost, or left in a car or a jacket pocket;
• an IOU from a staff member that was never written down;
• change from a purchase put back in the tin, or not put back;
• a refund from a supplier, such as a returned key deposit, added to the tin without a note;
• a top-up from the bank recorded twice or not at all;
• a counting mistake, especially with coins.

Occasionally the explanation is not dull, and someone has been taking money. That is exactly why the investigation comes before the journal.

Looking into the difference first

Booking the difference straight away turns an unexplained gap into an accepted cost. Spend a little time first:

1. Recount the cash with a second person present.
2. Lay the slips out by date and check each one has a date, an amount, a purpose and a signature.
3. Ask the agents and the receptionist whether anyone took cash for a show day, keys or a courier and has not handed in a slip.
4. Check whether a replenishment or a supplier refund went into the tin since the last count.
5. Compare this month's difference with the last few months.

If a missing slip turns up, the difference disappears and nothing needs booking. If the investigation points to dishonesty, stop and involve the principal before any entry is made.

AccountingTools advises dividing petty cash duties: the custodian safeguards the cash and makes payments, another employee approves spending, a separate accounting employee records replenishments and reconciles the fund, and someone independent carries out periodic surprise counts. In a small agency, even two people sharing those roles is a real improvement. The petty cash duties and surprise counts article covers that split in more depth.

Recording the shortage or overage

Once the difference is explained as far as it can be, it is recorded rather than hidden. Investopedia explains that a petty cash shortage or overage goes to an over/short account, with an overage credited as a gain and a shortage debited as a loss. Its page on understanding petty cash also covers how the fund is managed, recorded and reconciled.

The entries, described in words:

The replenishment itself is a separate entry: the expenses on the slips go to their own accounts (refreshments, courier, motor costs), and the bank account is credited with the top-up. Keep the over/short entry apart so it does not disappear into "sundry".

How this works in Achekam

Achekam does not have a separate petty cash register. The fund lives in the ledger as an account, alongside the agency's other accounts.

Each business has its own double-entry ledger with a standard chart of accounts created when the books first open, and accounts can be added, renamed or switched off. So the agency can add a petty cash account and a cash over and short account if they are not already there. The estate agency chart of accounts article covers where they sit among the other accounts.

The over/short entry is a manual journal. A business can post manual journals; an unbalanced journal or one dated in a closed month is refused, and a posted journal is corrected only by a reversal. That last rule is helpful here: if a slip turns up after the shortage was booked, the original entry stays visible and a reversal records the correction, so nobody can quietly make the history disappear. Put the reason in the journal narration, and keep the signed reconciliation form with the month's paperwork.

Watching the over/short account

A single small difference means little. A pattern means a lot. The general ledger lists every posted line, so the principal can open the over/short account and read down its entries month after month. The trial balance shows each account for all time, for a period or at a date, and says whether debits equal credits, which makes it easy to see the account's running total.

Questions worth asking each quarter:

• Is the account always short, never over?
• Do shortages cluster in months when one particular person kept the tin?
• Are the shortages growing?
• Does the account carry a balance much larger than the float itself?

An account that is short every month, by roughly similar amounts, is a control problem whatever the explanation.

At the next month end, count the tin with a second person, fill in the reconciliation form before topping up, and post the difference as its own journal so the over/short account starts telling you something.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.