Petty Cash Book (Imprest System)

Handling every small, routine cash expense — postage, conveyance, stationery, cartage, refreshments — through the main Cash Book would clutter it with a large number of tiny entries and take up the main cashier's time. Instead, businesses maintain a separate Petty Cash Book, managed by a Petty Cashier, most commonly under the Imprest System.

Under the Imprest System, the main cashier hands the petty cashier a fixed sum (the imprest amount, say ₹2,000) at the start of a period. The petty cashier spends out of this amount through the period, recording every payment. At the end of the period, the main cashier reimburses the petty cashier with EXACTLY the amount spent — restoring the float back to the original fixed imprest amount for the next period. This way, the amount reimbursed each period itself reveals the total spent, and the petty cashier's fund is never allowed to run down permanently or build up.

An Analytical Petty Cash Book additionally splits every payment across several analysis columns, one for each common expense head (e.g., Postage, Stationery, Conveyance, Sundry Expenses) — this makes it possible to total each column and post that total, ONCE per period, directly to the debit of the relevant expense account in the ledger, instead of posting every tiny individual payment separately.

| Receipts (₹) | Date | Particulars | Voucher No. | Total Payment (₹) | Postage | Stationery | Conveyance | Sundries | …