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NY LawFund: Practical Guide to Attorney Trust Accounts andRecordkeeping

January 20, 2021

cash disbursement journal

As a general rule, law firms may not keep the interest earned on funds they hold in escrow or in trust accounts. Lawyers who retain the interest without the client’s knowledge or written consent have been publicly disciplined, even when the amounts involved are relatively modest. Lawyers may charge administrative fees for the time and work involved in handling escrow funds entrusted to them and doing cash disbursement journal the required record-keeping for those funds. However, advance written informed consent from the client or recipient of the fund is advisable if the lawyer is going to turn over less than the full amount of the principal and earned interest. Cash receipts journal manages all cash inflows of a business organization. In other words, this journal is used to record all cash that comes into the business.

The main benefit of using a cash payment journal is that it provides businesses with a record of all cash payments made. Additionally, the journal can be used to generate reports on spending, which can be helpful in budgeting and financial planning. A cash payment journal, also known as a cash disbursement journal, is used to record all cash payments (or disbursements) made by the business. For example, suppose a business pays a supplier cash of 380 in respect of a purchase invoice of 400 less 5% cash discount. The line item posting to the accounts payable ledger would be for 400 to clear the supplier account. Finally the discounts received column total of 20 (in this case assume there is only one item for the accounting period) is posted to the general ledger discounts received account.

Double Entry Bookkeeping

A summary of total cash outflows and inflows may also be prepared to check the net cash flow of a certain period. The total cash outflow is then posted to the general ledger, along with the total cash inflow (which can be derived from the cash receipts journal). It’s similar to a triple column cash book in that it has money columns for cash and bank transactions, as well as discounts. This means that aside from actual cash payments, checks and other types of payment are included too.

cash disbursement journal

All deposits and withdrawals are made into and from the main account, with internal transfers to and from the sub-accounts. The payment columns may also be more specific to the nature of the business. For example, some businesses may only need one column to record cash amounts, whereas others may rely on additional columns for accounts payable or discounts received on cash purchases. In any case, there should always be an “other” column to record amounts which do not fit into any of the main categories. The cash disbursements journal is an essential tool in financial management. Business owners use it to see how much cash has been disbursed and where it went, and calculating the percentage that went to inventory versus what went to paying other bills.

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