Cash payments or disbursements journal explanation, format and example

Here are some examples of disbursements and their entries for better understanding. For example, a company wrote a check to pay Company A for inventory purchased on May 16. The amount of payment is $20,000 with no discount allowed by Company A. Thus, a $20,000 credit to cash and debit to other accounts are recorded. Besides generating a monthly cash disbursement report, accounting software can also create a cash disbursement report for specific dates.

For example, a payment made from a retirement account disburses funds to the account owner through a drawdown from the retirement funds. When all disbursements are made, the fund will have a zero balance. It is not completely insignificant and is probably not worth actively managing. Over the course of the year, this would turn into roughly $2.5 million dollars, certainly not insignificant. Part of that could become a bonus for the accounting team that exercised such expert skill at managing cash flows. The cash receipts journal is used to record all receipts of cash for any reason.

Understanding Disbursements

The journal itemizes when checks and other types of payments are made, as well as the amounts paid, the names of the recipients, and the accounts charged. This journal is a good source document for tracking down the specifics regarding individual payments. The information in the cash disbursement journal is periodically summarized and forwarded to the general ledger. Sometimes known as a cash payments journal, a cash disbursement journal is an itemized record of all of a company’s financial expenditures.

A controlled disbursement is a cash flow management service that banks provide to corporate clients. Controlled disbursements let businesses review and schedule payments. Controlled disbursements bookkeeping for startups let companies maximize the interest they generate on their accounts by delaying payments. In contrast, all the receipts of cash are recorded in the cash receipt journal.

The Accrual Method of Accounting

The Cash Disbursements Journal lists in journal format all payments
(checks) made to vendors and customers. This includes checks written in
either the Payments or the Write
Checks window. This report shows you all of the checks you have written within the selected time period, with a subtotal for each payee, and a grand total at the bottom of the report. At the end of the period, the TOTALS only would be recorded in posted directly into the accounts listed with no journal entry necessary. Input the information from your disbursement journal into your small business general ledger.