Petty cash without receipts: how Nigerian teams lose track
ATM withdrawals, office floats, and “use my account I’ll refund” — petty cash is where accountability dies. Here’s a simple float system that works on WhatsApp-era teams.
- Give one person a fixed float; top up only after reconciliation.
- ATM withdrawals must become a float line, not a black hole.
- Reimburse staff weekly on a schedule, not whenever they ask.
Chidi’s printing shop in Surulere runs on speed. Ink runs out, someone dashes to Computer Village, pays from pocket, sends a blurry receipt on WhatsApp three days later. By month-end he is arguing with staff about ₦47,000 in “small small” that never made it to any book.
Petty cash is not the problem. The problem is treating it as too small to record.
Bank shows −₦50,000 ATM. Books show nothing until someone remembers.
Three petty cash patterns that fail
- Open wallet: anyone buys anything, nobody logs until audit panic.
- Personal refund: staff pay first, promise to collect later — later stacks up.
- Ghost ATM: cash leaves the company account with no float assignment.
A float that fits a 10-person team
Give one named custodian a fixed float — say ₦150,000 for two weeks. Every withdrawal from the bank to fund the float is logged as “Transfer to petty cash — [name].” Every spend from the float is logged the same day with amount, purpose, and photo of receipt if you have one.
- Float tops up only when the custodian reconciles the previous balance.
- No new float if unexplained gaps remain.
- Personal spend is reimbursed only against a logged request — not “I forgot.”
- Weekend emergency buys get logged Monday 10am, no exceptions.
When staff use their own account
It will happen. Make the rule simple: screenshot or PDF receipt plus vendor name within 48 hours, or it is a gift to the company. Reimbursement batch runs weekly on a fixed day — not whenever someone remembers.
Reimbursements show as named lines — not a mystery “transfer to staff.”
Log floats and reimbursements in one place — Money module · categories your accountant will recognise