Starting Petty Cash Funds
The journal entry to start a petty cash fund only happens once - when the petty cash is first taken out of the cash bank account and put into the petty cash fund. To reflect this in the accounting records, the cash account is debited and the petty cash fund is credited. Since both accounts are assets, a debit decreases the balance in the account and a credit increases the balance. If we were creating a $500 petty cash account, the journal entry would look like this:
Spending Petty Cash
One of the nice things about a petty cash fund is that it doesn't require a journal entry for every transaction that occurs. If someone needs to spend $5 on postage, there isn't a need to do a journal entry right away, for such a small amount. However, there should be a petty cash ledger that tracks how the money is spent. Receipts from expenses should also be retained, since there will be a journal entry when the petty cash fund gets low and needs to be replenished.
Most of the expenses that are paid out of petty cash are office expenses, though there may be some entertainment and a few other categories. All that needs to be reported on the petty cash ledger is the date of the expense, the category, and the total cost. When it comes time to replenish petty cash, part of that process will be to set up the petty cash expenses by category and make journal entries for those transactions. If $240 was spent on supplies and $210 on entertainment, the journal entry would look like this:
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Since petty cash is an asset, when the balance decreases, we credit the account. Since entertainment and supplies are expense accounts, we debit them when the balance increases.
Replenishing Petty Cash
Replenishing petty cash requires a journal entry just like the original journal entry that established the petty cash account. After the supply and entertainment expenses, we need to put $450 more in petty cash. Just like when we set up the account, we are increasing the balance of petty cash - requiring a debit to the petty cash account, and a credit to the cash account.
Since we need to put $450 into the petty cash account from the cash account, our journal entry would look like:
Lesson Summary
Let's review!
After this lesson, you should understand how to pay and account for that Hawaiian BBQ lunch. We defined petty cashas the cash that a business location keeps on hand to pay for small purchases and needs that occur outside the procurement process and journal entriesas accounting transactions that either debit or credit accounts to document how funds are used and allocated throughout a company's accounting books.
We also discussed the journal entries that need to be processed when petty cash is set up, spent, and replenished. Since petty cash and the cash account are assets, they are debited when their balance increases and credited when the funds decrease.
When the petty cash fund needs to be replenished, the expenses that have been paid for out of the fund are totaled by category based on the petty cash ledger, which tracks how the money is spent, and a journal entry is done by crediting petty cash (decreasing the value) and debiting the appropriate expense account.
