What is “Petty Cash”?
“Petty cash” is a small amount of money set aside to pay for items or services related to your business. Reasons for petty cash could be paying for office supplies, window cleaning services, etc. While the amount of petty cash put aside is entirely up to you, petty cash usually doesn’t exceed $500.
Petty cash is usually stored in a safe or box, separate from your cash drawer. For security reasons, petty cash is normally handled by a store owner or manager, but could also be allowed for other employees to access in case of unexpected expenses.
Some businesses take their petty cash directly from the cash drawer. While this isn’t recommended by CerTek, this article goes over this route–and our suggested method.
Setting Up Petty Cash in Artisan
The first step is to create a new category record labeled “Petty Cash.” Change the “Inventory Classification” type to “Non-Sales.”
Create an item record called “Petty Cash,” and select the “Petty Cash” category you just created.
Set the “Preferred Vendor” to “None” and select “Fill in Price” as the “Pricing Model.” Make sure “Inventory Tracking” is turned off. Save your changes.
Using “Petty Cash” as a “Payment Type” (Recommended Method)
As mentioned, CerTek recommends having a separate cash box to store petty cash, and recording petty cash separately from the cash in your drawer.
To do so, you’ll need to set up a new payment type. Then, follow the steps for petty cash on the sales screen (click here to jump to this section).
From “Configuration Settings,” click on “Business and Financial Settings.”
Select “Payment Types & A/R Terms.”
Press “Add.”
Enter a short and long name for the petty cash payment type. If you want to restrict petty cash to only certain employees, select the authorization type. If you want everyone to be able to select petty cash as a payment type, leave this set to “Clerk Level 1.”
Leave the “Payment Class” set to “Non-Deposit.” Save the payment type.
Optionally, you can edit the payment type so it’s listed further up on the “Finalize” screen. Simply enter a lower number on the “Order” field.
Taking Petty Cash from the Cash Drawer
If you are taking money from the cash drawer, select “Cash” as the payment method on the “Finalize” screen (after following the steps below).
On the Sales Screen
On the sales screen, select this item. For ease of use, you can add this item to the Quick Pick. In the “Description,” write what this petty cash is being used for (ex. Window washing service). Input the price.
We’ll need to return this item by pressing the “Return” button or typing “-1” in the “Qty” field. Press ESC on your keyboard to bypass the slip number prompt.
Finalize the sale and select the payment method (“petty cash” or cash from the cash drawer).
Petty Cash vs. Internal Use
Petty cash is not the same as “internal” or in-house use. A common example could be if your business sells paper towels, then takes that roll out of stock and places it in a bathroom. You aren’t using petty cash to do this–you’re simply utilizing an item that you sell within your store.
To keep record of this, we recommend adding the item on the Sales screen and selecting “Internal Use” from the “Sales Type” dropdown.
Artisan will subtract this item from your stock and keep note of this adjustment in reports.
If you use Quickbooks, simply create a chart of accounts for “Internal Use” and input that name into Artisan’s configuration settings as shown below.