Keeping organized in the fast-paced world of film is essential. If you are not naturally an organized person…it’s time become one. In film accounting there are spreadsheets for many things and you will rely heavily on them. We highly suggest building your own spreadsheet with your own formulas so you fully understand the work flow. Below is the basic format of a petty cash log.
Column 1: PC – Each envelope is assigned a number for tracking. One way to approach this is to start each tracking number with the crew member's initials.
EX: John Smith’s envelopes will start with “JS”
Column 2: # – To keep each envelope organized for each employee who receives petty cash each envelope will also have a number associated with it.
EX: John Smith’s first envelope will be labeled “JS01,” his second envelope will be labeled “JS02” and so on.
Column 3: Date Received – Like any form entering the accounting department, the receipt date should be noted of when it arrived.
Column 4: Issued to – With many crew members receiving petty cash, you may not know off the top of your head who “JS” is. This column identifies the crew member to you at a moment’s glance.
Column 5: Cash – This refers to the amount of petty cash given to the employee.
Column 6: Envelope – This refers to the total of receipts and/or cash being turned back in to the custodian. (An example would be when a person goes to close out their petty cash account and have cash to return to the production.)
Column 7: Date Entered – Date the envelope is entered into the system.
Column 8: Transaction # – When an envelope is entered into the system, a transaction number is always generated. Record this number for future reference.
Column 9: PC Account – Each employee with a petty cash account is given an account code on the trial balance.
Column 10: Amount Outstanding – This cell contains a formula that subtracts the ENVELOPE amount from the CASH amount. In order for this log to be fully functional, when you add a new line you should sort the list by individual. That way, all the John Smith envelops will be in order and you can keep a running total of how much they owe.
EX: JS01: Cash given $500 – JS02 $300 in receipts + $300 reimbursed – JS03 $150 in receipts + $100 reimbursed = $450.00
**If you are new to petty cash logs please talk through it with the key or first assistant to make sure you fully understand the functionality of the log and how the formulas work. Messing up a log’s formulas can cause problems down the road and can take hours to fix.