Last updated 09 January 2025

Creating a Petty Cash Account (Cash Tin)

This guidance is only for IRIS Financials Version 7.0.2103 or earlier. If using version 7.0.2223 or later, go to Creating a Petty Cash Account (Cash Tin) .

The nominals and ledgers in this topic may be different to those in your chart of accounts.

Petty Cash is a small amount of cash that is on hand to pay for small amounts owed. This topic explains how to add a new petty cash tin to the system with an opening balance.

Some examples of occasions when you might use petty cash are:

posting an important business letter and need to buy a stamp.
reimbursing an employee for buying food or drink for the company.
covering travel costs for an employee who is going away on a business trip.

Adding a new petty cash tin to the system

To add a new petty cash tin to IRIS Financials:

Select Maintenance, then select Accounts from the menu.
The Select a ledger dialog is displayed, double to select AST_PCASH - AST Petty Cash Accounts (where AST represents the location code of the ledger).
The Account Maintenance window is displayed. Select ADD NEW, then select ACCOUNT.
A <New item> is displayed in the left-hand panel. Enter a code for the petty cash tin in Account, which can be up to 12 characters long. Typically the account is the location of the tin - e.g. FIN (Finance office), ADMIN (Admin office).
Enter a title to help identify the tin in Title. The Currency defaults to GBP.
Select the Security tab, then select any required security roles. For more information, please see Overview of Security Roles.
Select SAVE to save the new Petty Cash account.

Add an Opening Balance

Before using the new Petty Cash account, you need to enter the opening balance, which should be the same value as entered in Imprest Value on the Analysis Field tab in the Petty Cash Account. For more information, please see Posting an Initial/Opening Balance.

The following methods are available to achieve this depending on which method the cash is extracted from the bank account:

Cheque
Journal

This section assumes you are familiar with selecting and completing document input forms. For more information, please see Completing Document Input Forms.

Cheque

If you have issued a cheque to top up the petty cash tin, the petty cash tin balance is recorded using a cheque document input form.

Select Documents, then select Documentinput from the menu.
The Document Input dialog is displayed. Select Drill (...) in Document type, then double-select to select ASC1 - Cheques (where AS represents the location code) from the Select a document type dialog.
Select Drill (...) in Input form, then double-select to select either Petty Cash Reimbursement or Multi Petty Cash Reimbursement.
Enter the Cheque Number, Date and Period required, then select OK.
The selected document input form is displayed. Complete the details of the payment in the required fields. In Description, enter Petty Cash Opening Balance. The following graphic shows an example of a completed document input form for a petty cash tin opening balance.
When you have entered all the required details, press F5 or select POST. When you have posted the document input form, the value entered is deducted from the specified bank account and the funds credited against the nominated petty cash tin account.

Journal

If you have withdrawn the cash from the bank account to top up the petty cash tin for example, with a debit card, the petty cash tin balance is recorded using a journal document input form.

Select Documents, then select Documentinput from the menu.
The Document Input dialog is displayed. Select Drill (...) in Document type, then double-select to select ASGJ - Journal (where AS represents the location code) from the Select a document type dialog.
Select Drill (...) in Input form, then double-select to select either General Journal.
The document number is automatically populated with the next available document number and you are unable to change the Number.
Select the Date and Period required, then select OK.
The General Journal document input form is displayed. Complete the details of the payment in the required fields.
Enter the value of the imprest value in Debit on the 9420 Petty Cash Nominal Account row, then enter the value in Credit on the 9400 bank account nominal row (do not enter any currency symbols i.e. £, $, etc.)
In Description, enter Petty Cash Opening Balance. The following graphic shows an example of a completed General Journal document input form for a petty cash tin opening balance.
When you have entered all the required details, press F5 or select POST.

When you need to top up your Petty Cash tin account, a document input form can be completed. For more information, please see Topping up the Petty Cash Tin.

Also see: