Create Petty Cash Voucher

Small money, still worth a paper trail

Most workplaces keep a small tin or float for everyday expenses: stamps, milk and coffee, a courier fee, a taxi, a cleaner paid in cash on Fridays. Because each payment is tiny, it is tempting not to record it, and that is exactly why petty cash is where accounts go wrong. When the tin is counted at the end of the month and the total does not match, a stack of properly completed vouchers is the difference between a five-minute reconciliation and an afternoon of detective work.

This template turns each payment into a small, good-looking voucher in the shape of a ticket: a colour stub on the left with the word VOUCHER, the voucher number and the date, a drawing of coins, a perforation line, and a main area for the details. Up to three fit on one page, so that a single print run covers a whole week.

Typed or by hand

You can use the template in two ways. Type the details into the form and print a tidy voucher for the payment you are making. Or leave the form nearly empty and print one, two or three blank vouchers on a sheet, cut them apart and fill them in with a pen whenever cash goes out. The Vouchers on the Page list chooses how many copies appear; all copies carry the same details, so for a sheet of different vouchers, print blanks.

What each field is for

• Business or department: whose cash this is.
• Voucher number: use a running sequence so that gaps are noticed.
• Date: when the cash was paid out, written however you like.
• Paid to: the person or shop that received the money.
• Amount: shown in a boxed panel and repeated in words, which makes it harder to alter.
• Reason for payment: two lines to say what the money bought.
• Expense code: the account or category the cost belongs to, such as “6120 Office”, so that your bookkeeper can post it quickly.
• Approved by and received by: two names with signature lines. The person receiving the cash may draw a signature in the form.

Running a petty cash float

1. Set a float. Decide how much cash the box holds, for example 200, and who looks after it.
2. Set a limit. Agree the largest payment that may come from the box and who must approve anything above it.
3. Complete a voucher every time. No voucher, no cash.
4. Attach the receipt. Staple or clip the shop receipt to the voucher.
5. Reconcile regularly. The cash in the box plus the vouchers should equal the float. Weekly is a good rhythm.
6. Top up. When the box runs low, total the vouchers and replace exactly that amount.

Common mistakes

• Paying out against a note such as “owed Sam 12” instead of a voucher.
• Letting the same person both approve and receive large amounts.
• Throwing away the shop receipt because the voucher “says it all”.
• Using vouchers with no numbers, which makes missing ones invisible.
• Mixing personal and business cash in the same tin.

Themes and layout

Mustard has a classic accounting-office feel, sky blue is bright and neutral, and violet is distinctive in a drawer of white forms. The vouchers are 7.3 inches wide and 3.4 inches tall; on A4 the spacing between them grows slightly. Dotted lines between the vouchers show where to cut.

Questions answered

Is a petty cash voucher an official receipt?
It is an internal record of a cash payment. It does not replace the supplier’s receipt, which should be attached.

Can I show a currency other than dollars?
Yes, type any symbol in the currency box.

Can I print three different vouchers?
Print blank vouchers and fill in each by hand, or create each one in turn.

Does the amount in words handle cents?
Yes, 38.75 reads “Thirty-Eight and 75/100”.

Is it free?
Yes.