Taiwo is a sole trader who keeps his petty cash on the imprest system, the imprest amount being #4,000. The following transactions took place for a particul...

The imprest system fixes petty cash at a set amount, here \( \text{#}4{,}000 \). At the start of December, \( \text{#}517 \) remained in hand, and the cashier was reimbursed \( \text{#}3{,}483 \) to restore the float back to the full imprest amount: \( \text{#}517 + \text{#}3{,}483 = \text{#}4{,}000 \).

During the month, the following payments were made out of petty cash:

The personal (ledger) column in an analysed petty cash book is reserved for payments made to, or received from, a named individual or business whose account is kept in the sales or purchases ledger, rather than for a general expense heading such as stationery, postage, or wages.

Of the seven transactions listed, only the payment to J. Thomas, a creditor, involves a personal account. This \( \text{#}536 \) payment reduces the amount owed to J. Thomas and must be posted to his individual account in the purchases ledger, in addition to being recorded in the petty cash book itself. Notebooks, wages, postage stamps, and envelopes are all impersonal expense items posted to their respective nominal ledger expense accounts, not to a personal account.

Examination reminder: the giveaway for a personal-ledger posting is a named individual or trader in the transaction description; expense words like "wages," "postage," or "stationery" signal a nominal account instead.