Goes back without penny, so short of cash (8)
I believe the answer is:
strapped
'short of cash' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'goes back without penny' is the wordplay.
'goes' becomes 'departs' ('depart' can be a synonym of 'go'**).
'back' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'without' is an insertion indicator ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'penny' becomes 'p'.
'departs' reversed gives 'straped'.
'straped' going around 'p' is 'STRAPPED'.
'so' is the link.
(Other definitions for strapped that I've seen before include "beaten" , "affected by shortage" , "whipped" , "Needy - secured" , "broke" .)