Purpose and Use of Petty Cash Fund

The petty cash fund (the "fund") is intended to provide departments with an amount of incidental cash for transactions of an infrequent or extraordinary nature in connection with approved University activities.  A petty cash fund can also be established specifically as a "change fund" in the department for handling ticket sales, etc. for specific events, where expenses are not incurred. An authorized employee may use the petty cash funds to purchase incidental supplies which require the department to make payment at the point of purchase.  Similarly, if the department does not have a petty cash fund for such transactions, the employee may personally make payment at the point of purchase and obtain reimbursement via the Direct Payment Request Form (DPR) in WayneBuy (See APPM Section 1.3.1 for guidance on employee reimbursements).  Petty cash should be used in this manner only when absolutely necessary and when normal purchasing practices are infeasible or impractical.  The fund cannot be used as a method to bypass the University's Procurement and/or Disbursement policies.

Petty cash funds may NOT be used for the following:

• Expenses associated with travel activities, including travel advances. (See APPM Section 7.0 for Travel related reimbursement).
• Payments to vendors for invoices submitted directly to the department for non-PO purchases. These invoices should be processed for payment via a DPR (See APPM Section 1.3).
• Payments to independent contractors, consultants, awards, etc., to non-university employees. These should be processed through the appropriate payment process as identified in Sections 1.3 and 2.0.
• Payments to employees for wages, services, awards, bonuses, etc.  These should be processed through the appropriate payment process as identified in Sections 1.3, 2.0 and 4.0.
• Reimbursement for items that are to be purchased through the purchasing system according to the university purchasing policy (See Section 2.0).
• Cashing of personal checks or providing personal loans (IOUs).  This includes advancing cash from a petty cash fund for purchases.
• Purchase of other items which are prohibited under petty cash procedures include:
  1. advertising
  2. alcoholic beverages and tobacco
  3. animals (laboratory)
  4. automotive repairs
  5. bottle deposits
  6. chemicals
  7. clothing
  8. controlled substances
  9. cylinder gases and liquid nitrogen
  10. donations
  11. food and beverages
  12. flowers
  13. gasoline
  14. hazardous materials
  15. leases and rentals
  16. letterhead, envelopes business cards, and other printing
  17. maintenance agreements
  18. personal items
  19. post office box rentals
  20. professional services
  21. sales tax
  22. seminars and memberships
  23. subscriptions
  24. telephones
  25. traffic tickets

Quick Links:

APPM 1.3.6 - Petty Cash Overview   

• 1.3.6.1 Petty Cash Policy   
• 1.3.6.2 Petty Cash Fund Establishment   
• 1.3.6.3 Petty Cash Fund Replenishment   
• 1.3.6.4 Petty Cash Fund Closing   
• 1.3.6.5 Stolen Petty Cash   

WSU Petty Cash Fund Request Form
Petty Cash Balancing Worksheet
MI Sales Tax Exemption Form
Research Reimbursement Form - Exhibit A