5.7 Petty cash funds

Petty cash is an imprest fund that is maintained by an office to meet incidental and other unforeseen expenses that cannot be paid out through a cheque and are small in nature. Only expenses that are incidental-such as local handling, labour charges, purchase of small quantities of stationery and taxi fares that are below the limit set by the CO-can be paid out of petty cash. It should be noted that petty cash should not be used to get around a cheque payment system.

The maximum amount to be paid out of petty cash should not exceed USD50 or its equivalent in the local currency. Any amount of USD50 and above should be paid through a cheque or cash float. All petty disbursements must be supported by Petty Cash Vouchers (Annex 17.11), duly approved by an authorised person-preferably the employee’s supervisor-and should have all relevant accounting information including donor line item information.