The practice of using a petty cash float is usually discouraged. It is always best to have your payments processed through the Accounts Payable department. When it is not possible you may want to consult with the research finance team to have a petty cash float set up. Please keep in mind, participants who will be given over $500.00 within a given year must be paid through the Accounts Payable department. You should not be setting up a petty cash float for these participants as AP has to issue payments directly to capture all historical payment information to generate a T4 report.
To arrange a petty cash float, complete a requisition form for a starting amount. You can start with e.g. $800. When you spend approximately 2/3rds of the budget, you can then request for your float to be replenished by completing a signed payment requisition form. In order to receive additional funds to replenish your float, you must submit a copy of the signed log showing how the float was distributed. The copy of the log can be submitted to Sophia Lee. You should have the honorarium log and cash on hand in total $800 at all time. You may keep replenishing until the project is complete.
Noteworthy: when petty cash is issued, the research activity is not yet charged/expensed. Rather, a liability account (i.e.: PI owes Hospital/Finance) is created to set up the petty cash. The research activity will be expensed/charged as the petty cash is used. PI is ultimately responsible for petty cash amounts.
Any funds remaining from the petty cash float must be sent to Finance (via cash office)
Petty Cash Floats can be started for participant/patient honorariums. To have a petty cash float started for your study, the following steps MUST be followed:
