Petty Cash, Cash Register & Card Payments: Codes 1230, 1235, 1240 & 1250

Not all money moves through a bank statement — physical till cash, small office expenses paid out of a tin, and card transactions that settle a day or two later all need their own holding codes until they're reconciled.

The codes, and what each one holds

Code 1230 — Petty Cash is a small float kept on-site for minor, low-value purchases too small to justify a bank payment.

Code 1235 — Cash Register records physical cash taken over the counter in a retail-style business, before it's banked.

Code 1240 — Company Credit Card tracks spending on a business credit card, which behaves more like a short-term liability day to day even though it's grouped here.

Code 1250 — Credit Card Receipts is a holding account for card payments taken from customers that haven't yet cleared into the bank account. All four are Current Assets codes and normally carry a debit balance.

Real-world examples across industries

Retail and hospitality

A café takes £450 over the counter on a Saturday — £150 in cash and £300 by card. The cash is a debit of £150 to 1235 (Cash Register); the card takings are a debit of £300 to 1250 (Credit Card Receipts), sitting there until the merchant acquirer settles the payment into the bank a day or two later, at which point 1250 is credited back down £300 and 1200 (Bank Current Account) is debited the same amount. Separately, the till float is topped up £50 from the bank — a debit of £50 to 1230 (Petty Cash), credit £50 to 1200 — no VAT on the transfer itself, since it's simply moving cash into the tin ready to cover milk, cleaning supplies and change, each purchase from it recorded (with its own VAT, where it applies) as it's spent.

Field sales or trades business

A trades business with several site managers, each holding a company card, sees one of them fill up at a fuel station for £96 (£80 net, £16 VAT) — a debit of £80 to the relevant motor expenses code, a debit of £16 to 2201, and a credit of £96 to 1240 (Company Credit Card), with the balance cleared in full by direct debit from 1200 at the month end. Separately, cash is genuinely needed on site for parking or small tool purchases where a card machine isn't practical, so this business tops up its 1230 float more like a retailer would than a typical office-based B2B firm — the same code, used at a very different rate depending on how site-based the work is.

E-commerce retailer

An online shop using a payment gateway sees several days' worth of card sales, fees and refunds bundled into a single payout landing in 1200 — 1250 holds the detail in between, recording each sale as it happens and clearing down as each payout lands, rather than trying to match one lump sum straight back to individual orders. The same business also puts a £120 software subscription (£100 net, £20 VAT) on its company card — debit £100 to the relevant overhead code, debit £20 to 2201, credit £120 to 1240. With no till and no site-based purchasing, this business has no use at all for 1235 or, beyond a nominal float, 1230.

Why this matters day to day

Without a holding code for card receipts, a business would either record the sale twice (once when taken, once when it clears) or miss the timing gap entirely, making daily till reconciliation much harder. Petty cash, in particular, is also one of the easiest balances to lose track of if receipts aren't kept for every small purchase made from it.