Petty cash and expense claims

Ask any auditor where books go wrong most often and they will not say million-dollar contracts. They will say the little tin of cash in the drawer and the crumpled taxi receipts. Small money, handled loosely, by many hands — that is where the leaks are. This lesson gives you the two simple systems that keep small spending clean: petty cash and expense claims.

Petty cash: the float that always explains itself

Rosa keeps 200 dollars in a tin for tiny purchases — a mop, urgent basil, courier charges. The professional way to run that tin is called the imprest system, and it has one beautiful rule: