Department Petty Cash Account Policy : University of Dayton, Ohio

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Department Petty Cash Account Policy

Purpose

This policy defines the expectations and requirements for any University department petty cash account.

Scope

This policy applies to all University departments.

Policy History

Effective Date: December 6, 1993

Approval: June 28, 2016

Policy History:

Approved in original form: December 6, 1993
Approved as amended: December 11, 1995
Approved as amended: July 24, 2000
Approved as amended: June 28, 2016

Maintenance of Policy: Vice President for Finance and Administration and University Controller

Policy

Petty Cash accounts are approved when a need is established and documented by the department head. Those reasons include, but are not limited to, frequent, small dollar transactions not able to be placed on a p-card or are infeasible or impractical to go through the normal purchasing process.

Money is to be kept separate and not comingled with other funds.
Personal use of this money is not allowed.
All disbursements must have adequate receipts, a documented University business purpose, and approval from the department head.
Monies must be secured at all times.
Reimbursed expenditures may not exceed $50.

All new department petty cash accounts, and any changes to a department petty cash accounts, require the approval of the department supervisor and the University Controller.

All petty cash accounts must be reconciled as specified in the procedures.

Department petty cash may not be used and will not be reimbursed for:

1. Alcoholic beverages.

2. Personal uses (i.e. IOU's, check cashing).

3. Purchases of items costing greater than $50.

4. Postage, meter mail, and shipping.

5. Travel and entertainment/guest care (i.e. food, conferences, etc.).

6. On-campus food service charges. Use Campus Requisition form.

7. Wages and gifts to employees or students.

8. Subscriptions, periodicals, etc.

Any purchase made using a petty cash account should follow all university purchasing policy requirements as applicable.

Any theft of a department petty cash account must be reported immediately to Public Safety and the University Office of Internal Auditor. A copy of the Public Safety report should be filed with the Internal Auditor.

Department petty cash accounts are subject to periodic surprise audits and should always be ready for such. Department petty cash account custodians are responsible for ensuring that these policies are followed by the users.

Failure to follow these policies may result in the loss of your department petty cash account.

Reference Documents

Appendix A: University of Dayton Department Petty Cash Account Procedures
University of Dayton Procurement and Payables Policy
University of Dayton Policy on Unallowable Costs

Appendix A: Procedure

Establishment of a Department Petty Cash Account

All new, and any changes to a department petty cash account, require the approval of the department supervisor and the University Controller’s office.

Requests must be made in writing (emailed to controller@udayton.edu) and include the following:

1. Physical location of account

2. Security of account when in use and when not in use

3. Responsible person & Department

4. Purpose or need for the account

5. Amount requested (including denominations)

If the request is approved, written approval will be sent along with instructions to pick up funds from the University Cashier’s Office (Office of Student Accounts.) Requests should be made at least one week in advance of need in order to ensure funds will be available in the Office of Student Accounts.

Reconciliation of a Department Petty Cash Account

The department petty cash account must be counted, at a minimum, on the last day of every month. The cash on hand must be reconciled with the receipts and submitted to the University Controller’s office (St. Mary’s Hall +1662, fax 9-3816 or controller@udayton.edu ) by the 10^th of the following month. Forms to complete this reconciliation are available at https://porches.udayton.edu/group/finadmin

NOTE: If your department account is $300 or less, you are required to submit reconciliations to the University Controller’s office for the months of December and June, due the 10^th of the following month. (St. Mary’s Hall +1662, fax 9-3816 or controller@udayton.edu )

Reimbursement/Replenishment of a Department Petty Cash

Complete a check request or petty cash voucher slip and attach all receipts.
Take completed check request/voucher slip and receipts to University Cashier’s Office (Office of Student Accounts). These expenses should be charged to your department fund and account, as appropriate.
The University Cashier’s Office (Office of Student Accounts) will give you the amount of cash totaling your receipts.
The cash given by the University Cashier’s Office (Office of Student Accounts) plus the amount you already have should equal your authorized petty cash account.
Any overages or shortage should be credited or debited to your expense fund and the 7590 account when you replenish your account.

How to Close a Department Petty Cash Account

Complete a check request or petty cash voucher slip and attach all receipts.
Take completed check request/voucher slip and receipts to University Cashier’s Office (Office of Student Accounts). These expenses should be charged to your department fund and account, as appropriate.
The Cashier will give you the amount of cash totaling your receipts.
The cash given by the cashier plus the amount you already have should equal your authorized petty cash/change account.
Deposit all cash with the Office of Student Accounts and indicate you are closing your University petty cash/change account. Any overages or shortage should be credited or debited to your expense fund and the 7590 account when you close your account and cash should be deposited into the University petty cash account.
A copy of the receipt closing your account should be retained in your department files as proof you closed the account. An additional copy of the closing receipt should be forwarded to the University Controller’s office (St. Mary’s Hall +1662).