Professional Nannies Pay Attention to Bookkeeping

Respecting Professional Boundaries for Nannies: Keep All Receipts

Most parents are generous employers that treat their nannies well. Most parents are willing to pay for their caregiver’s meals and pay for cost of outings to zoos, malls, museums, and lunches with their children’s friends.

Most nannies use the family’s petty cash responsibly. But, there are a few nannies that abuse the unsupervised nature of their job. I have heard of a few nannies who have stolen from their employers by buying their own personal groceries with their employer’s credit card. I have also heard of caregivers that have stolen from their bosses by asking for $20 for pizza then they kept the change for themselves.

Obviously, the strong majority of nannies would never, ever steal from their employers. But, to protect themselves, and to ease employer minds, professional nannies should keep all receipts and maintain a record of bookkeeping on how they spend petty cash.

It’s smart to use a pencil to write information on receipts as well. For example, I have written on a Sports Authority receipt “Gabe’s Birthday Present” or “socks for soccer.”

It isn’t difficult to create a spreadsheet. Use a green spreadsheet that can be found at any office supply store. Keep a balance. Date each entry, why you spent the money, how much was spent, and add the deposit or subtract the balance of petty cash.

Using a bookkeeping spreadsheet for petty cash helps teach the kids how to balance a budget as well. Have school aged kids fill out the spreadsheet. For example, when they take five dollars from petty cash for lunch they can deduct the five dollars from the balance.

To ensure you will never be accused of misusing petty cash money keep receipts and keep a log of what you spend with the children.