A petty cash log is a running record of every amount taken out of, and put back into, a small cash float. Each row carries the date, what the money was for, the amount out or in, a running balance, whether there is a receipt, and who took the cash. The cash physically in the tin plus the spending you have logged since the last top-up should always equal the float you started with.
The free template
Petty cash log template has the nine columns, a worked example month, blank rows with the running balance already carrying down, and a month-end block. It downloads as .xlsx or .csv with no signup and no email address. To use it in Google Sheets: File → Import → Upload, pick the file, and the running balance keeps working.
How the float works
- Pick a fixed starting amount and keep it fixed. That number is the float.
- Log every withdrawal on the day it happens, in Amount out.
- When the tin runs low, put cash back in to return it to the float and log that in Amount in. A replenishment is a transfer, not an expense — the expense was already recorded when the cash left. Logging it twice double-counts every dollar that passes through the tin.
- Use the same expense categories you use for card spending. Stamps bought with petty cash are postage exactly as stamps bought on the card are postage.
Month end
Count the tin before you look at the log, compare it to the last figure in the running balance column, and record any difference on its own cash over / (short) line. Do not edit earlier rows to make it balance — a one-off difference is a rounding slip, but a tin that is short every month is telling you something you can only see if each month's difference is written down. Then replenish back to the float and file the slips you have.
Cash spends with no receipt in ExpenseBot
Petty cash is where receipts genuinely go missing: small amounts, paper slips, and no card statement underneath to fall back on. ExpenseBot records the spend anyway:
- Add Expense → Add Manual Expense opens a window where you can say the spend out loud or type it. A manual cash expense is tagged "No Receipt" automatically — you do not have to remember to flag it.
- You can also email receipts@expensebot.ai with a subject that starts
cash:, for examplecash: $18 taxi. Send it from your login address or a verified forwarding address; mail from any other sender is archived without a reply. - If you ask the in-app assistant to add a cash expense, it shows you the entry and waits for your confirmation before anything is written.
Those entries land in the same Google Sheet as your card and bank spending, so the tin is not a separate world at year end.
What ExpenseBot does not do here
It captures cash spends and tags the receipt-less ones. It does not reconcile a cash float, enforce an approval chain, or audit the tin. The log is the control; ExpenseBot is the capture.
Related
- Petty cash log template — the free file and the full how-to
- Office manager expense tracker — running receipts for a whole team, not just the tin
- Expense tracker template — the broader job when there is no physical cash