Cash book questions with answers

A new month of transactions every time. Write up the cash book or the petty cash book, check each amount, and print a worksheet with the key.

Layout
Level
How cells are marked
  • Amounts must be exact, to the cent or penny (to the rupee in the India layout). Cells that stay empty on a line should be left empty.
  • Three-column books: discount allowed goes on the debit side and discount received on the credit side, on the same line as the money. Discount columns are totalled, not balanced.
  • A contra entry goes in both columns, once on each side. Marking it C is good practice but is not marked here.
  • Checking a line also flags the cells you left empty on it. A total that adds up your own wrong entries is pointed out as such.

Set

Invented businesses and figures, for practice only. Wide books scroll sideways; Enter moves to the next cell.

    How the problems are made

    Each problem is an invented month at a small shop, salon or workshop: opening balances, cash and cheque sales, payments by cheque with their numbers, customers and suppliers settling with a cash discount, cash paid into and drawn from the bank. Cash in hand never runs below zero during the month, and every book in the key balances, with both sides of each cash and bank column totalling the same.

    An example from set CASH34

    On 20 Mar K. Wanjiru pays $1,021.00 in cash in full settlement of $1,070.00. That is one line on the debit side: $1,021.00 in the cash column and $49.00 in the discount column. On 19 Mar $630.00 of office cash is paid into the bank, a contra entry: debit the bank column, credit the cash column. At the month end the cash column holds $2,669.35 on the debit side and $1,305.95 on the credit side, so the balance c/d of $1,363.40 goes on the credit side and comes down as a debit balance on 1 April. Open set CASH34

    What each level covers

    1: a single-column cash book, cash only. 2: cash and bank columns with contra entries, cheques and bank charges. 3: the three-column cash book with discount allowed and received. 4: an opening or closing bank overdraft and a dishonoured cheque. 5: the analytical petty cash book on the imprest system, with the cash that restores the imprest. 6: a mix. AAT: the analysed cash book, with VAT, trade receivables and cash sales on the debit side and VAT, trade payables, cash purchases and expenses on the credit side. The layouts follow Cambridge IGCSE 0452 (no folio column), AAT Level 2 (pounds, no discount columns, VAT in petty cash) and India (Particulars, L.F., To and By, whole rupees). NCERT’s current class 11 book covers the single and double column cash book and the petty cash book; the three-column book follows ICAI’s CA Foundation notes.

    Questions

    What is a contra entry in a cash book?

    A transaction between the cash and bank columns of the same book, such as paying office cash into the bank or drawing cash out for office use. It is entered on both sides, once in each column, and marked C. It is not posted to the ledger, because both halves are already in the cash book.

    Why are the discount columns not balanced?

    They are not an account. The debit column lists discount allowed to customers and the credit column discount received from suppliers, two different things. Each is totalled and posted: discount allowed to the debit of its account, discount received to the credit of its account.

    How do you balance a cash book?

    Add each column on both sides. Put the difference on the side with the smaller total as Balance c/d, so both sides of that column total the same, and write the totals level. On the first day of the next month bring the balance down on the other side as Balance b/d.

    How is a bank overdraft shown in the cash book?

    As a credit balance in the bank column. When payments from the bank are more than receipts, the balance c/d goes on the debit side and comes down on the credit side. An opening overdraft is written on the credit side as Balance b/d. Cash in hand can never be a credit balance.

    What happens when a cheque is dishonoured?

    The bank returns the cheque unpaid and takes the amount back out of the account. Enter it on the credit side in the bank column, with the customer's name as the details. The customer owes the money again.

    What is the imprest system of petty cash?

    The petty cashier starts each period with a fixed sum, the imprest. At the end of the period the cashier pays back exactly what was spent, so the petty cashier starts again with the full imprest. Each payment is analysed into columns such as postage and stationery, whose totals are posted to the ledger.

    Does AAT Level 2 use a three-column cash book?

    No. AAT Level 2 adjusts prompt payment discount with credit notes and the discount daybooks, so its cash book has cash, bank and analysis columns (including VAT) and no discount columns. The AAT layout here leaves out the discount level and adds an analysed cash book and a VAT column in petty cash.

    Sources, checked October 26, 2026: Cambridge IGCSE Accounting 0452 syllabus for 2026 (PDF), topics 2.3 and 3.3; NCERT Accountancy Class 11 Part I, chapter 4, Recording of Transactions II (PDF); ICAI Board of Studies, Foundation Paper 1, Unit 5 Cash Book (class notes, PDF); AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting specification, version 5.7 (PDF), Introduction to Bookkeeping.