Page 142 - Civil Engineering Project Management, Fourth Edition

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Starting the construction work
are set out in Chapter 13. A word processor and a copying machine will be an
essential part of the equipment required. To check the contractor’s interim
payment application a print-out calculator, as used by accountants, is useful.
This prints out the figures added so that checking for arithmetic errors is
made easier.
Petty cash must not be forgotten, and the recipe is ‘enough but no more’
because of the risk of break-ins and theft. Petty cash never seems to balance
(whatever accountants say) when the sum total of what it should be comprises
a miscellany of stamps, a variety of small change, some crumpled notes, a
bunch of folded receipts, and list of expenditure in practically everybody’s
handwriting. A deficit one week can become a surplus the next, and vice versa.
If a deficit persists there is probably no criminal reason for it save human
forgetfulness and should the resident engineer make it up from his own pocket
he will perceive the wisdom of not having too much petty cash.