voucher
/ VOW-cher /
Picture a company where one clerk should not be able to pay a bill all by themselves — that would be too easy to abuse. So before any cheque goes out, the company prepares a short internal form that gathers the evidence, gets it approved, and authorizes the payment. That form is a voucher: an internal document that says 'this payment has been checked and approved, go ahead'.
A voucher bundles the proof and the sign-off in one place: it references the related invoice and receiving records, states the amount, the account to charge, and carries the signatures of whoever approved it. Larger organizations run a 'voucher system', where every payment must have a matching, approved voucher before cash leaves. The voucher then becomes the source document the accountant uses to record the payment.
Vouchers exist mainly for internal control — to make sure money is spent only on real, approved obligations. Beware two looser everyday meanings of the same word: a 'gift voucher' or 'discount voucher' is something quite different, a token you redeem for value. In accounting, a voucher is about authorization and a paper trail, not a coupon.
Before paying a $150 cup supplier, the café prepares a voucher attaching the invoice and delivery note, the manager signs it, and only then is the cheque issued. The approved voucher is filed as the record authorizing that payment.
A voucher gathers evidence and approval before cash leaves.
An accounting voucher is an internal authorization-and-evidence document for internal control; do not confuse it with a gift or discount voucher, which is a redeemable token.