Observations of a junior assistant;

              Bulletin HASKINS & SELLS 71
Observations of a Junior Assistant
THE following comments are the expres-sions
of a man on the staff who started
thinking about his work when his re­sponsibilities
were meagre. There is per­haps
nothing new in the observations
themselves beyond the fact that they
bring out some of the points concerning
procedure in a phase of public accounting
work which is frequently passed over
somewhat casually as being of minor
importance. Faithfulness in the little
things, in thought as well as deed, has
brought to this man enlarged responsi­bilities
and more important work. He
is now an in-charge accountant.
It is often the case that our count of
petty cash is simply perfunctory. We
ascertain from the general ledger that
there should be a certain amount of cash
in the imprest fund. We then set about
to verify the amount. Our one point in
view is to see either the cash, cash items,
or proper vouchers.
In counting the cash and cash items we
find little difficulty. It is in the case of
proper vouchers that we at times fail to
glean their import. In our haste or
anxiety to prove the correctness of the
fund, we simply note the amount of the
voucher, that it is properly signed or sup­ported
by an invoice, arid then pass on
to the next voucher. Perhaps we are
negligent about glancing at the date of
the voucher; but more important, we
should question the propriety of the in­clusion
of all the items in petty cash.
The following example may serve to
better illustrate these points:
We were making an audit for the six
months ended March 31, 1922. The
engagement was started in April, 1922.
The petty cash fund amounted to $300.
Upon counting the fund it was found to
consist of approximately $150 in cash,
and vouchers bringing the amount up to
$300. The dates of the vouchers ran
as far back as December, 1921, and only a
few small amounts were applicable to the
period subsequent to March 31, 1922.
The cashier was asked if it was not usual
to reimburse the imprest fund and dis­tribute
the expense at the end of the fiscal
period. She replied that they had no
special time for reimbursing the imprest
fund, and that she was of the opinion
that similar conditions had existed on
previous audits; however, no questions
had been raised about the matter. Un­doubtedly,
if such conditions had previ­ously
existed the petty cash count had
not disclosed this fact. Otherwise the
situation would have been corrected by
the one reviewing the report. Too often
we show but one amount for vouchers,
omitting all detail.
In the above case, after considering the
size of the engagement and our certificate,
it was deemed advisable to insist on the
proper distribution of the $150 to the
expense accounts affected.
In verifying the petty cash of a publish­ing
institution in April, 1922, two receipts
for funds deposited with the post office