Skip to Content
Accountants' Handbook Volume One: Financial Accounting and General Topics, Eleventh Edition
book

Accountants' Handbook Volume One: Financial Accounting and General Topics, Eleventh Edition

by D. R. CARMICHAEL, O. RAY WHITTINGTON, LYNFORD GRAHAM
April 2007
Intermediate to advanced
1056 pages
43h 54m
English
Wiley
Content preview from Accountants' Handbook Volume One: Financial Accounting and General Topics, Eleventh Edition

Chapter 18. CASH, TRANSFERS OF FINANCIAL ASSETS, LOANS, AND INVESTMENTS

Luis E. Cabrera, CPA

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

18.1 INTRODUCTION TO CASH

(a) NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF CASH.

Cash is both the beginning and the end of the operating cycle (cash–inventory–sales–receivables–cash) in the typical business enterprise, and almost all transactions affect cash either directly or indirectly. Cash transactions are probably the most frequently recurring type entered into by a business because (except for barter transactions) every sale leads to a cash receipt and every expense to a cash disbursement. It is recognized as the most liquid of the assets, and thus has prominence for users who are focusing on issues of liquidity.

Cash derives its primary importance from its dual role as a medium of exchange and a unit of measure. As a medium of exchange, it has a part in the majority of transactions entered into by an enterprise. Assets are acquired and realized, and liabilities are incurred and liquidated, in terms of cash. Thus, cash is generally the most active asset possessed by a company. As a unit of measure, it sets the terms on which all properties and claims against the enterprise are stated in its financial statements. Price-change reporting, which addresses disclosures for fluctuations in value as general and specific price levels rise and fall, is discussed in Chapter 17.

(b) CASH ACCOUNTING AND CONTROL.

The major challenge in accounting for cash is maintaining adequate ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

Accountants' Handbook, Volume One, Financial Accounting and General Topics, 12th Edition

Accountants' Handbook, Volume One, Financial Accounting and General Topics, 12th Edition

D. R. Carmichael, Lynford Graham
Financial and Managerial Accounting

Financial and Managerial Accounting

Donald E. Kieso, Paul D. Kimmel, Jerry J. Weygandt

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780471790389Purchase book