Five voucher habits that break a Hong Kong petty cash float

A float can contain the right amount of cash and still fail a review if the vouchers cannot explain where money went. Across retail tills and clinic imprests in Hong Kong, the same five habits appear.

1. Receipts left “to be attached later”

Custodians pay a courier, tuck the change back in the tin, and promise to staple the receipt after lunch. By Friday the slip is gone. We treat a claim without a merchant receipt as an exception unless your policy explicitly allows a limited self-declaration — and even then we expect a signed form, not a blank space.

2. Photocopies recirculated into the pack

When someone photocopies a voucher for a manager and the copy lands back in the live pack, replenishment can pay twice. Numbered vouchers or a simple ink stamp (“PAID / date”) stop most of this.

3. Approvals after the cash has left

Policy often says “approve before disbursement.” Practice often says “approve when the pack looks tidy.” We note post-dated approvals separately from missing approvals; both matter, but they tell different stories about how the float is really run.

4. Split purchases under the limit

Two HKD 480 claims on the same morning for the same supplier can be legitimate — or a way around a HKD 500 single-claim cap. We flag same-day, same-payee splits for your follow-up rather than accusing staff on the spot.

5. Replenishment delayed until the tin is empty

An imprest that sits unreimbursed for weeks encourages informal top-ups from personal wallets. Those top-ups rarely have vouchers. Schedule replenishment when the float hits a stated threshold, not when it hits zero.

If any of these sound familiar, a voucher trail spot-check is usually enough before you commission a full float examination.