Petty Cash Funds

What this is for

A petty cash fund is a small float of cash that one person (the custodian) keeps to pay minor costs. Winlium follows the imprest method. In plain words: the fund has a fixed ceiling (the Imprest Amount). When money is spent, the fund goes down. Finance then tops it back up, but never above that ceiling.

Each fund has:

• one custodian, who is accountable for the float;
• a Control Account in the ledger that represents the float itself;
• an optional Funding Bank Account that top-ups are paid from;
• a Current Balance, which starts at ₦0.00.

Petty Cash claims draw the balance down when they are approved. Finance fills the fund with Replenish Petty Cash (see Replenish petty cash). A top-up can never take the balance above the Imprest Amount.

Before you begin

Open the screen

In the menu choose Expense, then Configuration, then Petty Cash Funds. The browser address is /dashboard/expense/operation/petty-cash-fund.

The list

The search box reads "Search Code, Name..." and searches those two fields. Double-click a row to edit the fund. The table also has Export, Add columns and Reset all. An empty list shows "No results."

Row actions

Open the three-dots menu on a row.

An Inactive fund cannot be used on a claim: Winlium refuses with Petty cash fund "{name}" is inactive. The menu still offers Adjust balance on an inactive fund, but the server then refuses the correction with the same message, so activate the fund first.

What Delete really does

Winlium deletes a fund only when it has never had any movement and its balance is 0. If the fund has any history, or a balance above 0, Winlium only makes it Inactive. The server message is "Fund has transaction history or a non-zero balance and has been deactivated instead of deleted". The toast on screen still reads "Deleted fund: {name}". Check the Status column to see what happened.

Create or edit

1. Open the form

   On Petty Cash Funds select New Fund. The page is titled Create Petty Cash Fund. To edit, choose Edit fund (or double-click the row). The page is titled Editing Petty Cash Fund.

2. Fill in Fund Details

   Complete Fund Name, Custodian, Control Account and Imprest Amount. Fill the optional fields you need.

3. Set the options

   Switch Allow Negative Balance on only if claims may be paid when the fund is empty.

4. Save

   Select the Save icon (it reads Update when you edit). Winlium returns to the list.

A new fund always starts Active with a balance of ₦0.00. The success message on create is "Petty cash fund created — it starts at a zero balance. Use Replenish to fund it up to its imprest amount." On edit it is "Petty cash fund updated successfully!". The edit page also shows the Activity Log.

Field reference

Correct a fund's balance

Use this only to fix a genuine mistake, for example a top-up typed with too many zeros. It does not change the fund's ceiling. It posts a correcting entry to the ledger through a bank account you choose.

1. Open the dialog

   In the row menu choose Adjust balance. The dialog is titled Correct Petty Cash Fund Balance. It shows the current balance and the imprest ceiling.

2. Enter the right balance

   In Correct Balance Should Be type what the balance should be. A hint under the box says whether the balance increases or decreases, and by how much.

3. Choose the bank account

   In Bank Account pick the cash or bank account the correction is posted through. It starts as the fund's Funding Bank Account, if one is set.

4. Give a reason

   In Reason explain the mistake. It goes on the audit trail and into the ledger description.

5. Confirm

   Select Confirm Correction. The button reads "Correcting..." while it saves.

Confirm Correction stays disabled until all of these are true:

• a bank account is chosen;
• a balance is entered;
• the new balance is different from the current balance;
• the reason is not blank.

Messages you may see:

• "Select the bank account this correction is posted through"
• "Enter what the balance should actually be"
• "That is already the current balance — nothing to correct"
• "Enter a reason for this correction — it goes on the audit trail"
• From the server: "The corrected balance cannot be negative for a fund that does not allow a negative balance"
• From the server: "The corrected balance (₦{n}) cannot exceed the fund's imprest amount (₦{n})"
• From the server: Petty cash fund "{name}" is inactive
• On success: "Fund balance corrected to ₦{n}"

Ledger impact

Read it as two legs, not four. If the balance goes up you post the first two lines. If it goes down you post the last two. The amount is the difference between the old and new balance. The entry is dated today, so an open financial period must exist for today; otherwise Winlium stops with No active financial period found for date: {date}, or Financial period for date {date} is blocked for transactions. See Financial years and periods. Creating, editing, activating and deleting a fund do not post anything.

Who can do this

Page access needs expense:petty-cash-funds:read. To create you need expense:petty-cash-funds:create, to edit expense:petty-cash-funds:update, to delete expense:petty-cash-funds:delete, and for Adjust balance a separate expense:petty-cash-funds-adjust-balance:create. The pickers also need read access to Chart of Accounts, branches and users. Today only the Owner standard role holds these, so give other people a custom role. See Roles and permissions.

What this affects in other modules

• Petty Cash claims choose one of these funds and draw its balance down on approval. A fund with too little balance blocks the approval.
• Replenish petty cash tops the fund up to the Imprest Amount.
• The ledger shows the fund through its Control Account in Accounting.

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