Single column cashbook

Single column cash book (as the name suggests) is a book of original entry which maintains a separate column for recording cash in hand and cash at bank respectively hence there are two types of single column cash book, namely; cash account and bank account. Cash receipt and cash payment vouchers are the corresponding source documents that are utilized to prepare single column cashbook. To be able to differentiate between cash receipt and cash payment voucher, the learner need to consider the origin of the document in question. For cash receipts, it originates from the seller of goods whether it was spot/immediate or a credit sale. This is because the seller has received cash after selling goods or services to the customer. It is also referred to as outgoing cash receipt. To the contrary, cash payment voucher originates from the supplier of goods or services to the organization in question. For instance, if Our Co. ltd buys goods from a supplier, whether it was spot/immediate or a credit purchase. This is because the business in question (ie Our Co. Ltd) has paid for the goods or services it bought in cash.. It is also referred to as incoming cash receipt. The learner can also differentiate the two documents by physically checking who has paid and who is receiving the cash.

In the proceeding illustration, we will still anchor our discussion on details in illustration three of level one accounting tutorials for the sake of easy understanding of the learner. Therefore, consider the single column cashbook of Our Co. ltd as at 20th/02/2018 (refer to level one tutorials). The extracts are as follows;

The learner need to note that for the cash account, only cash transactions involving hard cash in terms of coins and notes of all denominations are recorded herein. Similarly, for the bank account, only cash transactions in terms of check are recorded herein.

Let us now assume that from 20th/02/2018, no cash transaction took place up to the end of the month of February as per the above cash and bank ledger accounts. This means that the balances indicated in the two ledger accounts (ie also books of original entry) are the same balances that will reflect in the beginning of the following month of 1st March 2018. Also the learner need to note that balances brought down are taken as a business transaction just like any other business transaction for the balance brought down carry a monetary value. Therefore, in the proceeding illustration 1, the first transaction will be the balances brought down from the month of February as shown below and the rest of the transactions follow.

Single column cashbook example

2018 March 1st Balance b/d; cash in hand $222,000 and cash at bank $(5,000)-If the monetary     value is in brackets, it means it was a case of bank overdraft as discussed in level one tutorials.

3rd Paid the following expenses on cash; electricity $2,000, water bills $1,000,    insurance $10,000 and advertisement $25,000

4th Borrowed a loan from Barclays Bank ltd $216,000 by check

4th Bought goods for $13,000 in cash from M Ltd

5th Bought goods of $20,000 by check from N Ltd

6th Sold goods for $29,000, cash to O ltd

8th Sold goods for $12,000, check to O Ltd

9th Received commission from KK co. holdings of $30,000 by check

11th Received cash from trade debtor, O Ltd, $7,000

13th Paid trade creditor, U Ltd, $3,500 by cash

15th Paid salary $12,000 by cash to one employee

Required;

Record the transactions in the respective source document and transfer them to the corresponding book of original entry (single column cash book), that is cash and bank accounts as the books of the original entry as on 15th/03/2018

Solution

NB: The learner should know that single column cash book simply means maintaining a separate ledger account for recording those transactions involving cash flows (cash account) in form of hard cash such as coins or currency notes and transactions involving cash flows (bank account) through the bank system.

Step one; Recording of information in the respective source documents;

Step two: Transfer to books of original entry

One issue that the learner need to understand is, that the balances brought down are not recorded in the source document. They are recorded as opening balances b/d in each book of original entry.