Petty Cash Procedures

All Employees:

Please review the detailed procedures regarding the administration of Petty Cash vouchers for employee use.

Petty Cash Uses:

  • Small incidental expenditures and local cash purchases only.
  • Emergency ready cash for the payments of small expenditures not available through Purchase Order.

Petty Cash May Not:

Be used to bypass Maricopa County Community College District accounts payable and purchasing systems.

Petty Cash Restrictions:

Petty Cash may not be used for purchasing goods covered by an MCCCD cooperative contract.

Petty cash may not be used to purchase office supplies which require a PO through a corporate contract with Staples, or items from Amazon.com which require purchase with a Corporate Credit Card.

Petty cash may not be used to pay any type of professional service to either an employee or non-employee, vendor or contractor. This includes such payments for incidental rentals, and non-employee athletic event workers.

Petty cash may not be used for reimbursements of any kind including travel. All travel expenses must be processed using the Fiscal Office Travel Reimbursement requirements.
https://www.mesacc.edu/employees/fiscal-services/travel

Petty cash may not be used to make personal loans, salary advances or to serve as a check cashing fund.

Petty cash may not be used to purchase money orders, coupons, gifts cards, and other similar types of pre-purchases tenders for goods or services.

Petty Cash Guidelines & Procedures:

Only one petty cash voucher per account number can be taken out at any given time.

All Petty Cash vouchers must be pre-approved and issued prior to purchasing goods. The date on the receipt must be on or after the petty cash voucher issue date.

The standard petty cash limit is $200.00. Petty cash requests exceeding $200 require approval by Valerie Stingley, Manager of Cashier Services or Mary Driessen, Associate Vice President of Administrative Services.

Approved petty cash funds must be picked up from Cashier's Services within 2 business days of the approval date. After two days the request will be voided. Cashiers will not hold and house petty cash vouchers after the 2 business day cut off.

Original receipts and/or cash must be returned to the Cashier's Services within (5) business days of the dated petty cash voucher. Receipts must clearly indicate the items purchased and the name of the vendor/store. All receipts must coincide with the purpose indicated on the Petty Cash Voucher.

It is preferred that personal items not be purchased and/or included on the Petty Cash receipts.

Petty Cash being used for emergency events, decorations, and food must have a dated and signed Official Function Form when submitted. Official Function Forms are available here: https://www.mesacc.edu/employees/fiscal-services/official-functions.

Only one itemized Official Function Form should be created per event, even if the event has various departments’ budgets being utilized. If more than one OFF is created for one event they will be returned to the originator for correction.

All Official Functions above $1,000.00 require the College President's review, approval, and signature.

Only Board-Approved employees may pick up and return a petty cash. No family members, or Students/Club Treasurers are allowed to pick up Petty Cash. Student Club Treasurers may only pick up petty cash for club functions when accompanied by the Club Advisor.

Petty Cash Process:

  1. Obtain Petty Cash Voucher from Cashier Department or Department administrative support staff. Requester must follow all MCCCD purchasing guidelines.
  2. Complete all the required information and provide a detailed description of purchase being made with Petty Cash.
    For example, for food and refreshments write, “emergency purchase of food and refreshments for 24 participants from XYZ vendor”, etc. instead of writing “food and refreshments”. Vague descriptions will not be accepted. All expenses must be clearly noted.
  3. Attach a completed, signed, dated and approved Official Function Form for all supported events & functions as described above. Review that process here:
    https://www.mesacc.edu/employees/fiscal-services/official-functions.
  4. Obtain proper approvals for petty cash voucher and include the requester name or signature, department head and/or club advisor. Remember a Dean's and/or Vice President's signature is required.
  5. Petty Cash voucher and OFF (if applicable) will then be reviewed, date stamped and approved by the Administration Support Staff. Once approved and date stamped, the petty cash voucher will be sent or delivered to Cashier Services.
  6. Cashier Services will review the voucher and OFF. Once approved Cashiers will communicate to requester that petty cash is available for pick up.
  7. Complete purchase.
  8. Return remaining cash and original itemized receipts to Cashier Services within 5 business days after petty cash issued. Please, do not highlight the totals on the receipts; you may circle if needed.
  9. If reconciliation is not completed within the 5 business days allocated, communication will be initiated to the Requester, Department Head, Dean or Vice President.

Completing the Petty Cash Voucher:

  1. Unit – Mesa Community College (MCC)
  2. Department or Activity – Department or Club Name
  3. Amount Requested $ - $1.00 - $200.00
  4. Requested by and Date – Only board-approved employees (Club Advisors) are allowed to sign and pick up cash.
  5. Department Head/Advisor – Signature of Supervisor or Club Advisor
  6. Unit Head – Signature of Supervisor, Dean, VP or President
  7. Fiscal Agent – Signature of Bursar/Cashier Services Staff
  8. Purpose – Enter a brief, but specific explanation of what the funds are to be used for.
    * NOTE: “Purchase of supplies” is not sufficient, instead, “pens, post it notes, scissors....”
  9. Date/ Received by/ Amount – The recipient’s signature, the date the cash is received, and dollar amount is filled in by the recipient. These fields should be signed and dated only when the funds are received. The person receiving the funds is responsible for safekeeping and proper use of the funds.
  10. Account Code – Enter the appropriate FMS Account Code. Expenditures can be split into two or more account codes. Here is the correct format for an approved FMS code: MCC04-53210-MCMAIN-110-802705-STDNT_SRVS.
  11. Cash Returned on/ Receipts Submitted/ Amount – Leave blank (for Cashier Services staff use only)