Cash and cash equivalents are the most liquid asset found within the asset portion of a company's balance sheet. Cash "equivalents" are typically comprised of assets that are readily convertible into cash such as money market accounts, short-term government bonds and commercial paper. In business and accounting an asset is anything owned which can produce future economic benefit, whether in possession or by right to take possession, by a person or a group acting together, e. ... A balance sheet, in formal bookkeeping and accounting, is a statement of the book value of a business or other organization or person at a particular date, often at the end of its fiscal year, as distinct from an income statement, also known as a profit and loss account (P... For short-term mutual funds investing in money market securities, see Money fund The money market is the financial market for short-term borrowing and lending, typically up to thirteen months. ... Commercial paper is a short-term unsecured debt trading as a security issued by large banks and corporations. ...
Payments
"Cash and cash equivalents", when used in the context of payments and payments transactions refer to currency, coins, money orders, paper checks, and stored value poducts such as gift certificates and gift cards
The English word cash is a borrowing of the French caisse, itself a borrowing of the Provençal caissa.
In the pre-1818 South Indian monetary system, the cash was the basic coin, with 80 cash equalling a fanam and 42 fanams equalling a star pagoda worth roughly 7s.
For example, wages or salaries paid as "cash" (as opposed to, e.g., stock options) would in most countries normally be paid with checks or direct bank deposits, which are trivially convertible to currency.
Cash and cashequivalents comprise cash on hand and demand deposits, together with short-term, highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to a known amount of cash, and that are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value.
As regards the cash flows of associates and joint ventures, where the equity method is used, the cash flow statement should report only cash flows between the investor and the investee; where proportionate consolidation is used, the cash flow statement should include the venturer's share of the cash flows of the investee.
The amount of cash and cashequivalents held by the enterprise that is not available for use by the group should be disclosed, together with a commentary by management.