About cash account configuration

You can create cash accounts that represent bank accounts, amounts of cash on hand, or amounts of cash in transit.
The details of configuration depend on the type of cash account you need. For more information about the types of cash accounts, see: About cash account types

To track the transactions you record in the Cash management workspace in the General ledger workspace, you link each cash account to a general ledger account allocated for this purpose. Once a document that is related to a cash account is released, the system automatically generates transactions to be posted to the respective general ledger accounts in the General ledger workspace.

In general, the configuration process of a cash account involves the following steps:

1. You decide which existing General ledger account you will record your cash transactions to, or you create a designated account for this purpose.
   
   If the Multi-currency accounting functionality is enabled in your system (in the Enable/disable functionalities (CS100000) window), the currency of a cash account is taken from a GL account to be used for cash transactions, which must be denominated. If the functionality is disabled, the currency of a cash account is taken from the branch it belongs to.
2. You create a cash account in the Cash management workspace and link it to a general ledger account that you have allocated for this purpose.
   If you use branches and subaccounts in your system, you can link cash accounts from different branches or with different subaccounts to one general ledger account.
   Only one cash account can be created for the combination of a branch, a subaccount, and a general ledger account.
   For more information, see: Create a cash account
3. You run validation of the cash account balance in the Cash management workspace, in case transactions were posted to the general ledger account before you created the cash account and linked it. After the validation is completed, all transactions posted to the general ledger account are tracked in the Cash management workspace.
   Now you can record transactions in both the General ledger and Cash management workspaces, and the system automatically synchronises the history of the cash account with the transactions in the general ledger account.

This configuration is enough for you to start making funds transfers between your cash accounts.
To be able to record transactions other than funds transfers (cash entry transactions and incoming and outgoing payments), you also need to perform the following steps:

1. You configure the following entities:
   • Entry types:
     You use entry types to classify cash transactions for correct processing.
     You can consider an entry type a transaction template; it defines the transaction type, the offset general ledger account and subaccount, and the processing details.
     Entry type settings are to be used as default settings for a transaction.
     With entry types configured to affect the balances of general ledger accounts only (that is, those for which the entry type parameter is set to Cash management), you can create transactions of the Cash entry type to record bank interest earned, a bank service fee, or some office expenses.
     For more information, see: About entry types
   • Payment methods:
     You use payment methods to define the way the money is transferred into and out of the organisation.
     To be able to record money received from customers or paid to suppliers, you need to specify payment methods for each customer and supplier individually and create entry types to be used in the Customer ledger and Supplier ledger workspaces.
     
2. You associate entry types and payment methods with the appropriate cash accounts.

If you want to reconcile a cash account balance, the additional configuration is required.

Identifiers for GL accounts are defined by the ACCOUNT segmented key, while identifiers for cash accounts are defined by the CASHACCOUNT segmented key.
You can use the Segment keys (CS202000) window to define the structure of the CASHACCOUNT segmented key.

The CASHACCOUNT segmented key is not related to the ACCOUNT key, and you can define identifiers for cash accounts differently than identifiers of general ledger accounts.
For example, you can define the CASHACCOUNT key as having an additional segment (with respect to the ACCOUNT key) to designate the branch that is the owner of the cash account. Then for the general ledger account 10101, you can have a cash account 10101-MN in the Main branch and 10101-NR in the North branch, both of which are linked to the 10101 account. Alternatively, you can define cash account identifiers to be like the identifiers of the GL accounts.

Each cash account is denominated in a particular currency.
If the Multi-currency accounting functionality is disabled in your system in the Enable/disable functionalities (CS100000) window, the currency of a cash account is taken from the branch it belongs to. If the Multi-currency accounting functionality is enabled, you can maintain cash accounts for each currency used, because the currency is taken from a general ledger account used for cash transactions, which must be denominated. The balances of foreign currency cash accounts are maintained in the currency of denomination as well as in the base currency and should be periodically revalued in the base currency for the balance sheet.

In Visma Net, the balance of a cash account can be presented in different ways.
You can view the balance of the general ledger account linked to the cash account.
This balance, called the General ledger balance on the system interface, is calculated as the sum of all posted transactions for the selected financial period.
Additionally, you can view the available balance of a cash account. This balance, called the Available balance on the system interface, is calculated as the sum of all released and cleared receipts and disbursements, regardless of the selected date or financial period. The available balance is the amount of money you can spend right now.

You can control how the system calculates the available balance of cash accounts, by using the settings in the Receipts to add to available balances and Disbursements to deduct from available balances sections of the Cash management preferences (CA101000) window.
Both sections have the same set of settings. These settings, listed below, control which receipts and disbursements will be included in the calculation of the available balance, in addition to the released and cleared receipts and disbursements:

• Unreleased uncleared:
  You select this check box if you want the system to include receipts or disbursements with the On hold or Balanced status and with the Cleared check box is not selected.
• Unreleased cleared:
  You select this check box if you want the system to include receipts or disbursements with the On hold or Balanced status and with the Cleared check box is selected.
• Released uncleared:
  You select this check box if you want the system to include receipts or disbursements with the Released status and with the Cleared check box is not selected.

Reconciliation of a cash account is a useful procedure in controlling cash transactions.
You can keep records about cash transactions both in Visma Net and in a third-party system (for instance, a bank where you have accounts) or in the window of cash register receipts. To reconcile the cash account, at the end of each financial period, you compare the system records with a bank statement or other documents confirming the transactions to find discrepancies between the account balances tracked by different means.

In Visma Net, you mark cash accounts that require reconciliation by selecting the Requires reconciliation check box and specifying the number series for the reconciliation statements in the Reconciliation number series field in the Cash accounts (CA202000) window.
When this check box is selected for a cash account, the system behaviour changes as follows:

• For each transaction recorded to this cash account, the system makes the Cleared check box available for modification.
• When you select the Cleared check box for a transaction, the system fills in the Clear date field (of the transaction) with the current business date.
• The system displays the cash account in the list of available cash accounts in the Reconciliation statements (CA302000) window and uses the specified number series to generate reference numbers for the statements.

If the organisation has branches, each branch maintains its cash accounts separately from the cash accounts of other branches.
To be able to maintain a unified chart of account for all branches, you define cash accounts separately and link them to specific general ledger accounts in the chart of accounts (you can link multiple cash accounts from different branches to one general ledger account).

Thus, a multi-branch company can have a unified chart of accounts; all the accounts on the chart can be used by all branches, and each branch can have its own cash accounts, access to which is allowed for only the users who have access to the branch.

Once cash accounts have been configured, cash documents in each branch are created for a cash account that belongs to the branch, but the transactions generated by these documents are posted to the general ledger account. Although the cash accounts are separated by branches, the GL account provides the consolidated balance over all linked cash accounts.

If you use subaccounts in your organisation, you can also use these subaccounts with cash accounts for further analysis.
You define the list of available subaccounts in the General ledger workspace.