现金可被定义为存放在银行的货币存款和任何可以随时被银行接受的其他款项。这些款项不仅包括硬币、纸币，也包括支票和汇票。另一方面，应收票据、欠条、远期支票(在将来某个日期支付的支票)以及银行盖上“存款不足”的戳记后退回的未能收讫的顾客发票，不能被银行接受，也就不能包括在会计上所称的现金定义中。

在所有的流动资产中，现金流动性最强，因此，它作为流动资产的第一项列于资产负债表上。在资产负债表上，整个现金量将被列于一个标题——现金下，因为研究资产负债表的那些银行家、信贷经理或投资者们关心的仅仅是现金的总额以及它与财务报表上其他项目的关系。

现金交易是由不同的分类账户记录在册的，最常用的如库存现金、小额现金和银行存款等。一个企业如果拥有几个银行的支票账户，那么对于每一个银行账户将分别设立独特的分类账户。一些银行存款被限定了用途，从而不能用于支付企业的日常业务。例如，银行存款中包含了指定用于收购长期资产的存款。在某些国家的银行账户下禁止将一个国家的资金转移至另一个国家。不能用于偿付流动负债的现金应该被列示在资产负债表的流动资产项目之后的投资和基金项目下。

一个良好的现金的内部控制可以防止现金被盗用以及欺诈行为，它还有助于实现有效的现金管理的其他目标，包括正确记录现金交易、预测需要偿还的借款并且保持一个合适而不过多的现金余额。实现现金交易及现金余额的内部控制主要包括以下几个步骤:

现金经营应与现金业务的记录分开。经营现金的雇员不应该接触会计记录，而会计人员也不应该接触现金。

给企业内部各部门准备一个有关现金收支及余额的按月编制的来年的现金预算计划。

全部现金收入应如数存入银行。

所有支付都使用支票。对于零星的现金支付则另设小额备用金。

对于每一笔费用支出在使用支票付款前都要核实它的合法性和数额。把同意开支和签发支票的功能分开。

及时调整银行报告及会计记录，使其相一致。

Reading Material

Need for Reconciling Bank Balance and Ledger Balance

Since the bank statement balance and the ledger balance of cash are not equal，a firm prepares a bank reconciliation to uncover the reasons for the difference between the two balances and to correct any errors that may have been made by either the bank or the firm.This makes it possible to arrive at the same balance in each account，which is called“Adjusted Balance”，or“True Balance”，of the“Cash Account”.

There are a variety of reasons for differences between the bank statement balance and the customer's cash balance.Here are some of the more common ones:

Deposit in transit:A deposit made after the bank statement was issued.The depositor has naturally already added the amount to the Cash account in his or her books，but the deposit has not been recorded by the bank(this is also called a late deposit).

Outstanding checks:Checks that have been written by the company but not yet received for payment by the time the bank sends out its statement.The company employee，when writing checks，deducted the amounts from the Cash account in the company's books，which explains the difference.

Collections:When the bank acts as a collection point for its customers by accepting payments on their behalf，it adds the proceeds to the customer's bank account and sends a credit memorandum to notify the customer of the transaction or includes it on the next bank statement.

Interest income:Some checking accounts are interest bearing or earning.The depositor will not learn how much interest the bank has credited to the bank account until the bank statement is received.

NSF(not sufficient funds)check:When a bank customer deposits a check，it is recorded as cash on the customer's books.Occasionally，however，a check is not paid(bounces).When the bank notifies the customer of this，the customer must make a deduction from the Cash account.Simultaneously，the depositor records an increase in accounts receivable because the client's debt to the depositor remains unpaid.An NSF check may also be called a dishonored check.

Service charge:A bank charge for services rendered:for handling checks，for collecting money，for receiving payment of notes turned over to it by the customer for collection，for check printing，and for other such services.The bank immediately deducts the fee from the balance of the bank account and notifies the depositor with a debit memorandum.

Errors:In spite of internal controls and systems designed to double-check to prevent errors，sometimes either the customer or the bank makes a mistake.Often these errors do not become evident until the bank reconciliation is performed.