[Question] Petty Cash Sheet

[taniel.crouch@gmail.com]

An employee purchased goods with his own cash for a repair he was working to the value of R500. Once he got back to the office he was the refunded the R500 from petty cash. The management person then saw on the invoice that our company details .i.e. VAT no, company name, address etc where not on the invoice. Up until now putting our company details on invoices from petty cash purchase has never existed so my questions are:

• Is it mandatory to put company details on all invoices resulting from petty cash purchases?
• Is there a certain amount that warrants company information for SARS/ Accounting purposes?
• Does it affect SARS in any way?

As far as I understand petty cash is just that – used for petty/ little/ insignificant/ trivial purchases and as far as I can tell as long as there is an invoice and it is written up on the petty cash sheet - there should be no problem.

I ask this question as the management person is now saying how will they explain this to our accountant and SARS which I think is a bit dramatic as I don’t think there is a problem… or am I wrong and there is some law about petty cash I don’t know about? Or is it just a matter of company preference? Because now myself & this employee have been have been issued with a ‘breach’ letter but as far as I know there was no harm done, no loss of business or any other kind of damage done.

[Mike C]

Hi Taniel,

If you are wanting to claim VAT from SARS on the Petty Cash Claim then certain information is required for SARS to regard it as valid:

If the amount is over R5,000 then:
The words “TAX INVOICE” in a prominent place
Name, address and VAT registration number of the supplier
Name, address and VAT registration number of recipient
Serial number and date of issue
Full and proper description of the goods and/or services
Quantity or volume of goods or services supplied
Price & VAT

If the amount is less that R5 000
The words “TAX INVOICE” in a prominent place
Name, address and VAT registration number of the supplier
Serial number and date of issue
A description of the goods and/or services
Price and VAT

If you are not claiming VAT then all that is usually required for a Petty Cash Voucher is the Supplier Details, the Purchase Details and the Amount. (Usually a slip confirming the purchase is attached.) This is usually needed to track the types of expenditure being made so that they can be charged to various expense accounts.