Petrol Pump Expenses: What to Record, and Why They Stay Out of the Shift Difference

A petrol pump expense is any money that leaves the drawer for something other than fuel sold: a salary advance, the electricity bill, generator diesel, tea for the staff, a repair. The rule that keeps the hisab clean is simple: expenses are recorded on their own, by shift, with a reason, and they are never mixed into the shift difference. The difference compares fuel sold with money collected for it; an expense paid from the drawer is not a shortage, it is a withdrawal.

Why expenses break the shift hisab

At 4 PM the owner takes Rs.2,000 from the drawer for the generator diesel. At 10 AM the operator's cash is Rs.2,000 short. If nobody wrote the withdrawal, the operator is blamed for the owner's expense. The opposite happens too: an expense is written but the cash was never actually taken, so the drawer shows extra and someone pockets it later. Both are fixed by the same habit: write it when it happens.

The usual expense list

How to record an expense

1. Write it at the moment the cash leaves the drawer.
2. Date, shift, amount, reason, who took it, who approved it. Six things, one line.
3. Keep the receipt or bill where there is one, numbered in the same line.
4. At handover, total the shift's expenses and show them to the operator, so they know their cash was reduced by that much and why.
5. Never net an expense against a shortage. A Rs.300 shortage and a Rs.300 expense are two separate lines, not a zero.

Shift 12 Nov 10:00 → 13 Nov 10:00

Fuel hisab (per nozzle)
  Expected 4,03,947   Collected 4,03,947   Difference 0  → Settled

Expenses this shift (separate list)
  4:00 PM  Generator diesel     Rs.2,000   taken by owner
  6:30 PM  Tea and water          Rs.180   Ramesh
  9:00 AM  Advance, Dinesh       Rs.1,000   approved by owner
  Total expenses               Rs.3,180

Cash to the owner = Collected cash − Expenses (expenses do not touch the Difference)

What is not an expense

• Test fuel. It goes back into the tank. It is subtracted from Fuel Sold, not written as an expense. See the 5-litre test.
• A customer's udhar. That is a Pending Due sale, part of Collected. See credit customers.
• Tanker payment. That is a stock purchase, recorded with the refill. See tanker refill record.
• A shortage. A shortage is a difference, written against the operator's name. Writing it as an expense hides it.

In Fuel Pump Book

Expenses are their own list, by shift, with amount and a note. They never enter the shift Difference, and the shift report shows them separately. Other sales (engine oil and the like) are also kept apart from the fuel hisab. The Excel backup from Settings has the full expense list for your accountant. GST and full accounting are not part of the app.