Petty cash audit checklist India — 12-point quarterly review for restaurants
Petty cash audit checklist India — 12-point quarterly review for Indian restaurants. Voucher integrity, GST, Rule 6DD, control gaps. Free printable checklist.
Last updated 12 May 2026
About this piece. A monthly cash variance of ₹200 is invisible — but compounded across 12 months and three outlets, it's a real number. The petty cash audit is the quarterly habit that catches drift before it becomes structural. This is the 12-point checklist we use, with the exact evidence to look at for each point and the action that follows from a fail.
Why quarterly, not monthly or annual
Monthly is too frequent — most controls don't drift in 30 days, and the audit becomes routine theatre that nobody takes seriously. Annual is too rare — by then the patterns are baked in and three quarters of unrecovered leakage has already happened.
Quarterly hits the sweet spot. It aligns with GST quarterly returns for some operators, lines up with the seasonal beat of Indian restaurant ops (festivals, school holidays, monsoon), and is rare enough that the auditor (usually the owner or area manager) can give it 90 minutes of real attention.
The audit takes about 90 minutes per outlet for a disciplined operation. Add 30 minutes per problem area found.
The 12-point checklist
| # | Check | Pass criteria | Typical fail action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Float = PCH at audit moment | (cash + vouchers) = labelled PCH | Reset float; document variance |
| 2 | Voucher sequence integrity | No gaps; cancelled vouchers retained | Re-train cashier on spoiled-voucher rule |
| 3 | Two-signature presence | ≥95% of vouchers signed by both parties | Tighten top-up rule |
| 4 | GL category usage | "Other" ≤8% of total | Re-engineer category list |
| 5 | Round-number ratio | <30% of vouchers exact ₹100 multiples | Bill-attachment rule |
| 6 | Vendor concentration | No single vendor >40% of voucher count | Quarterly vendor rotation review |
| 7 | Rule 6DD compliance | Zero PCVs ≥₹10,000 to single party in single day | Move spends to UPI/bank |
| 8 | GST capture rate | GSTIN field filled on ≥80% of registered-vendor vouchers | Cashier asks "GSTIN bill?" |
| 9 | GSTR-2B reconciliation | Zero unmatched ITC claims for the quarter | Vendor follow-up |
| 10 | Salary advance leakage | Zero PCVs labelled "advance" or to staff names | Enforce separate advance ledger |
| 11 | Bill-date integrity | ≥90% of vouchers have bill within 24h of voucher date | Manager spot-check at top-up |
| 12 | PCH sizing freshness | PCH was last re-computed within 6 months | Re-run sizing formula |
Below — the actual evidence to look at for each, and the specific action when something fails.
Point 1 — Float = PCH at audit moment
The check. Walk to the cashier's till at a random moment during the audit visit (not announced). Count the cash in the petty drawer. Sum the voucher chits in the drawer. Add. Compare to the labelled PCH.
Pass. Total within ±₹50 of PCH.
Fail. Anything beyond ±₹50, or the cashier has to "go find" some vouchers. Document the variance, ask for a written explanation, and tighten the end-of-shift reconciliation rule. A persistent positive variance often means top-ups happen without removing vouchers (Pattern 1 in the leakage piece).
Point 2 — Voucher sequence integrity
The check. Pull the current voucher pad. Walk the sequence from the first voucher of the quarter to the most recent. Note any gaps.
Pass. Zero gaps; any cancelled vouchers are retained in the pad with diagonal CANCELLED mark and a reason.
Fail. Each missing voucher is a potential cash-out without a paper trail. Investigate each one with the cashier. Re-train on the spoiled-voucher rule.
Point 3 — Two-signature presence
The check. Random sample of 20 vouchers from the quarter. Count those with both cashier and recipient signatures.
Pass. 19 of 20 (≥95%).
Fail. Less than 19/20 means the two-signature rule isn't being enforced at top-up time. The fix is at the top-up moment: manager refuses to replenish unsigned vouchers; cashier eats the variance. Three weeks of this and signatures appear consistently.
An audit that catches a controls gap but doesn't change the top-up rule afterward is theatre. The check is upstream; the fix is at the choke point.
Point 4 — GL category usage
The check. Run the month's PCV totals by category. Compute the share of "Other / Miscellaneous" as % of total spend.
Pass. "Other" ≤8% of total ₹.
Fail. "Other" >8% means the category list on the voucher pad is wrong for actual spend patterns. Look at what's being marked as "Other" and add the top two as named categories. Re-print the voucher pad.
Point 5 — Round-number ratio
The check. Same 20-voucher random sample as Point 3. Count those whose amounts are exact ₹100 multiples (₹100, ₹200, ₹500, ₹1,000).
Pass. Fewer than 6 of 20 (<30%).
Fail. ≥6 of 20 strongly suggests vouchers are being filled after the cash leaves the till, not at the point of spend, with the amount rounded. Tighten the bill-attachment rule — every voucher above ₹250 must have an attached bill, exact amount.
Point 6 — Vendor concentration
The check. Pull all vouchers for the quarter. Group by vendor name. Compute the top vendor's share of total voucher count and total ₹.
Pass. No single vendor >40% of count and no single vendor >40% of ₹.
Fail. Single-vendor concentration is where price inflation hides. Run a one-week comparative price check against an alternative supplier for the over-concentrated category. If the alternative is 8%+ cheaper at comparable quality, rotate the vendor.
Point 7 — Rule 6DD compliance
The check. Filter the quarter's vouchers for amount ≥₹10,000. Cross-check that no two ≥₹5,000 vouchers to the same party fell on the same day.
Pass. Zero such instances.
Fail. Any single payment ≥₹10,000 in cash is potentially disallowed under Income Tax Rule 6DD (under §40A(3)). Move that vendor's payments to UPI or bank transfer prospectively. Consult your CA on the disallowed expense — depending on the case, the deduction may be lost for the quarter.
Point 8 — GST capture rate
The check. From the same 20-voucher random sample, count vouchers where the vendor was GST-registered (i.e., a tax invoice was attached). Of those, count vouchers where the GSTIN field was filled on the voucher itself.
Pass. GSTIN filled on ≥80% of registered-vendor vouchers.
Fail. Lost ITC. Cashier needs the "GSTIN bill milega?" prompt at every spend above ₹250. The voucher pad's GSTIN field needs to be a prominent line, not buried at the bottom.
Point 9 — GSTR-2B reconciliation
The check. Pull the quarter's GSTR-2B from the GST portal. Cross-match every ITC-eligible voucher against the corresponding 2B line.
Pass. Every PCV-claimed ITC has a matching 2B entry. Zero unmatched.
Fail. Unmatched entries fall into two buckets — vendor didn't file GSTR-1 (chase the vendor; reverse the ITC if not resolved), or PCV was claimed against wrong payment mode (correct internally). The reconciliation is the most useful single GST hygiene step at the petty level.
Point 10 — Salary advance leakage
The check. Filter vouchers by recipient name. Flag any voucher where the recipient is a staff member and the description includes "advance," "loan," or is blank.
Pass. Zero such vouchers.
Fail. Salary advances must run through the salary advance ledger, funded from operating cash via the safe — not from petty drawer. If they're appearing in PCVs, the petty drawer has become a personal credit line.
Point 11 — Bill-date integrity
The check. Random sample of 10 vouchers with attached bills. Compare bill date to voucher date.
Pass. ≥9 of 10 have bill within 24 hours of voucher date.
Fail. Bills more than 24 hours older than the voucher suggest old bills are being recycled. Manager spot-check at top-up time: every voucher with an attached bill, glance at the bill date.
Point 12 — PCH sizing freshness
The check. When was PCH last computed using the formula PCH = (D × C) + (1.5 × largest PCV)?
Pass. Within the last 6 months.
Fail. Re-run the sizing exercise this week — see how much petty cash to hold. Restaurant volumes drift seasonally; a PCH set in monsoon may be wrong by Diwali.
The 90-minute audit flow
The 12 points map to a single 90-minute sit-down at the outlet, in this order:
- Minutes 0–10 — surprise drawer count (Point 1)
- Minutes 10–25 — voucher pad walkthrough (Points 2, 3, 5, 11)
- Minutes 25–45 — GL + vendor analysis (Points 4, 6, 10)
- Minutes 45–70 — Rule 6DD + GSTR-2B reconciliation (Points 7, 8, 9)
- Minutes 70–85 — PCH sizing review (Point 12)
- Minutes 85–90 — write the action list
The action list is the deliverable — three to five specific fixes the cashier and manager will run for the next 90 days, with a check-back date.
Audits without a follow-up date for action are a recurring source of operator frustration. Calendar the next quarter's audit and a 30-day check-in on the action items, before you leave the outlet.
What a clean audit looks like
A petty cash drawer in a clean SMB Indian restaurant at audit time:
- Float = PCH within ₹50, no questions asked
- Voucher pad sequential, cancelled vouchers retained, two signatures on every recent voucher
- "Other" category at 4–6% of total spend
- Top vendor at 22% of count, 28% of ₹
- Zero Rule 6DD breaches
- GSTIN captured on the registered-vendor vouchers
- 2B fully reconciled
- PCH was last sized 4 months ago
That's the 90th-percentile state. Most outlets are a quarter or two of disciplined audits away from it.
Where this fits with the rest of petty cash discipline
The audit is the downstream check on three upstream disciplines:
- Sized float — how much petty cash to hold
- Voucher format — petty cash voucher format India
- Leakage prevention — petty cash leakage in restaurants — 8 patterns
Run the upstream three, audit quarterly, and the petty cash discipline becomes one of the cheapest, highest-yield controls in the restaurant.
What to do this week
Block a 2-hour window on the calendar for next Saturday. Print the 12-point checklist. Run it cold at your outlet. Whatever scores below pass — that's your action list for the next 90 days.
Related on Restaurant Daily
- Petty cash leakage in restaurants — 8 patterns — the patterns the audit catches
- Petty cash voucher format India — free template — the voucher the audit reviews
- Cashier accountability declaration form — the staff-side document that supports the audit
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