What is an imprest fund?
1. Imprest funds are fixed- or petty-cash funds in the form of currency or coin that have been advanced as Funds Held Outside of Treasury. Historically, agencies have used imprest funds to make a variety of payments to all classes of payment recipients. Agencies typically used imprest funds to reimburse employees for expenses, to make small purchases, to make emergency beneficiary payments, and to pay informants, among other uses.