Petty cash exercises and answers

Post a total of 3 substantive responses this includes your initial post and 2 replies to other students.

You oversee the $250 petty cash for your company. When an employee needs a special item that is not in inventory, you take money from petty cash to purchase that item.

One day, you are short on cash for lunch. You decide to borrow $10 each day for the next 3 days until payday for a total of $30 from petty cash. After payday, you do not have enough to repay petty cash, so you decide to record a cash short/over expense of $30.

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

Since this is the first time you have ever done this, is this a problem?
If so, what steps should be taken to fix this problem? If not, why not?
Reply to at least 2 of your classmates. Be constructive and professional in your responses.

Student 1

Hello Class,

If I were in charge of the petty cash for the company I worked for I would take full responsibility for the cash and make sure to have integrity while doing my job. I would never borrow money from any account because that would be stealing from the company. It wouldn't matter if it were the first time or not, it would be a problem. If I cant be trusted with the petty cash then I cant do my job properly. The next steps that would need to be done to fix this problem is to either fire me or be reprimanded. There needs to be consequences to ensure this doesn't happen again and to deter others from making the same mistake. Another action to take to fix this problem is to have an auditing system in place. This can also help managers or supervisors control all financial activity. Requiring valid proof of purchase or some type of receipt should help eliminate fraud purchases and theft. Constant monitoring from a manger can make sure this control is effective.

Student 2

Hello Class,

We all can relate to struggles, and how they affect not just personal decisions but professional. From a professional stand-point I see this as nothing but an attempt of corporate stealing. We can look at this from many different perspectives but in my opinion even if it was the first time doesn’t change the fact it is stealing. Not only is this a moral issue but from a professional stand-point inexcusable. There might be some examples with some companies where they may allow using petty cash for such things but the fact of recording a cash short/over expense of $30 dollars to cover you lunch is stealing. Steps that I think should be taken to correct this issue are specifying to all employee’s what is a valid reason to use the petty cash for and what is not acceptable as well. I personally don’t agree with the decision and would go another avenue in order to eat lunch every day.