A cash book (or cash journal) is an official document in which you record all cash transactions. This applies to both self-employed individuals and companies.
💡 As soon as you work with cash, you are required to keep a cash book. Healthcare professionals are particularly concerned, as they provide services to private individuals and therefore receive cash payments more regularly.
Even if you make a single cash payment, or receive a single cash payment from a patient, you are required to keep a cash book.
A financial-type journal
Accounting law requires you to keep one financial journal per payment method. This journal simply lists incoming and outgoing payments in chronological order.
The bank journal 💳
The most common financial journal is the bank journal: it lists your bank transactions chronologically with information such as the date, amount and communication reference.
It is the easiest journal to keep up with, as the information is already stored in a database (by your bank). If you are self-employed, BILLY retrieves your bank transactions through an automatic sync with your bank.
The cash journal 💸
For cash payments, the process is the same as for the bank journal. You need to record all cash payments.
What format should the cash book be kept in? Historically, the cash book was kept in a bound paper notebook where each page was numbered. This allowed an inspector to verify that the information had not been altered. Today, you can opt for a digital tool. However, the software must prevent any modifications and must retain the entry date of each piece of information added. BILLY provides a legally compliant cash book so you can manage this with complete peace of mind 🏖️
👉🏻 Find out how to manage your cash book in BILLY
⛔ Managing your cash book in Excel is not allowed. You cannot guarantee the timestamp of each entry in the book, nor ensure that modifications are impossible.
Contents of the cash book
The cash book must be completed in chronological order. For each payment, you record:
The date of the incoming or outgoing transaction
The positive or negative amount
The description or communication reference
The cash balance: with a digital tool, this balance is calculated automatically
Situation 1: outgoing to the bank account
When you withdraw money from the cash box to deposit it at the bank, you must record a cash outflow. The transaction type will be "Bank deposit".
Situation 2: outgoing to private use
If you withdraw money from the cash box for personal use, you must also record a cash outflow. The transaction type will be "Private withdrawal".
💡 It is important to clearly distinguish between professional and personal cash. As soon as you take an amount from the cash box for personal use, you must record a private withdrawal.
Balance inventory 🔢
On the last day of the financial year, you are required to verify the balance of your financial journal.
For your bank account, the bank does this for you. There is no risk of error since the calculation is done automatically. For the cash book, you must check yourself whether the accounts match reality (this is called cash reconciliation).
💡 The cash balance in your accounts is often incorrect. It only takes one forgotten bank deposit, for example. So make sure you track every cash payment — it will save you time at year-end inventory.
Difference from the receipts journal
The receipts journal and the cash journal are not the same type of document. The cash journal records cash payments. Each cash payment is carefully entered in this journal.
The receipts journal is a journal recording income without invoices (known as receipts). These receipts generally come from a cash or bank payment. There is therefore a link between the cash book and the receipts journal.
So what is the link between the cash book and the receipts journal? A cash payment can generate a receipt entry in the receipts journal. When recording a cash payment, you can specify the transaction type in BILLY. If the type is "Income", we automatically generate the corresponding receipt in the receipts journal. All of this is handled automatically by BILLY — there's nothing for you to do, saving you valuable time ⏱️ Say goodbye to Excel files or loose sheets of paper on your desk. Enter your income directly in the app!
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