Cash Book: Single-Column and Petty-Cash Examples

What single-column means

In a traditional single-column cash book, each receipts and payments side has one money column. A practical row-based worksheet presents those same amounts as Cash in and Cash out with a running balance. Single-column does not mean every field, including the date and explanation, occupies one spreadsheet column.

Define the scope before entering data. The example below records physical cash, not checking-account transactions. A cash-and-bank book can have separate analysis columns, but mixing both balances in an unlabeled total prevents a meaningful cash count. Searches for cash books can also refer to bound paper books; the linked resources here are downloadable worksheets, not physical products.

A populated single-column example

Fictional Harbor Stall begins October 1 with $300 counted cash. Receipt R-01 records $120 cash sales, raising the balance to $420. Voucher V-01 records $45 paid for current-period stall supplies, leaving $375. Receipt R-02 records a $60 collection of an existing customer invoice, leaving $435. Deposit slip B-01 records $200 taken to the business bank account, leaving $235 cash on hand.

Cash in totals $180 and cash out totals $245. The check is $300 + $180 - $245 = $235. The customer collection is not new revenue if the invoice was already recorded. The $200 banking deposit is a transfer from physical Cash to Bank, not an expense; retain the deposit slip and later bank credit as evidence.

The sample omits tax and assumes the $45 items are consumed immediately. Actual supplies held for later use, tax and inventory records can require different ledger treatment. A correct cash balance does not settle those classification decisions.

A distinct petty-cash imprest example

In a separate fictional fund, Harbor authorizes an imprest of $100. Establish it with debit Petty cash $100 and credit Bank $100. The custodian keeps the money secure and retains signed vouchers for each authorized payment.

Voucher PC-01 is $18 postage, PC-02 is $12 local delivery and PC-03 is $20 cleaning materials consumed immediately. Total vouchers are $50; counted cash is $50. Cash plus valid vouchers equals the authorized $100 fund. This is not the $235 main cash-book example and the balances must not be combined accidentally.

Replenishment records the supported expenses once

At period end the reviewer approves the three vouchers. Replenish $50 from Bank: debit Postage expense $18, Delivery expense $12 and Cleaning expense $20; credit Bank $50. Under this illustrated imprest method, the expense entries are made at replenishment, not again after each voucher. The Petty cash ledger account stays at $100; physical cash returns from $50 to $100.

Mark the reimbursed vouchers with the replenishment reference so they cannot be submitted twice. Changing the authorized fund size is a different transaction. If cash plus vouchers is short, recount and investigate; document any authorized shortage treatment rather than inventing a receipt or silently forcing the balance. Include unreplenished expenses in the appropriate close process.

Download and use the blank worksheets

The related resources include a blank cash-book CSV and a separate blank petty-cash CSV. Each contains a header and empty entry rows, not fictional transactions presented as your records. They contain no formulas, macros, automatic posting or prefilled balances. Enter the opening balance and calculate each subsequent balance yourself.

Import with a comma delimiter and UTF-8 encoding in your spreadsheet application. Set dates deliberately, retain source references as text, and use one currency per worksheet. Cash in and Cash out are separate nonnegative amount columns: enter a $45 payment as 45.00 in Cash out, not -45.00. Running cash equals the previous balance plus Cash in minus Cash out.

For petty cash, record establishment or replenishment as Cash in and vouchers as Cash out; retain voucher, category and authorization fields. The voucher log does not instruct the general ledger to recognize expenses twice. These are manual worksheets, not bank-upload or QuickBooks import formats, and no Excel or Google Sheets import compatibility is asserted without an application test.

Keep the cash book in its proper role

Post supported cash movements to the other affected ledger accounts and reconcile each bank account separately. The cash book does not contain all unpaid invoices, liabilities, depreciation or equity records. Fulla can turn bank-statement PDFs into reviewed transaction exports; it does not count physical cash, authenticate vouchers or maintain a petty-cash fund.