Dictionary / Cash Receipts
What does Cash Receipts mean in accounting?
Quick definition
Accounts payable & receivableCash receipts are money that actually arrived: checks, card batches, ACH, and currency. They are collections, not unpaid invoices.
Read more below
Cash receipts are money that actually arrived: checks deposited, card batches settled, ACH inflows, and currency in the till. They are not the same as accounts receivable. AR is what customers still owe. A receipt is the collection.
Examples
A customer pays an existing invoice
A dental-office client pays the $1,850 invoice by ACH on June 21. You record a $1,850 receipt applied to that invoice. Checking increases, AR decreases, income does not change. In QuickBooks Online use Receive payment. In Xero apply a payment on the invoice.
A cash sale with no invoice
A walk-in pays $60 cash for a same-day repair. The receipt is also the sale: debit undeposited funds or checking $60, credit sales $60. Deposit the till and match the deposit in the bank feed so cash does not sit in undeposited funds.
Why it matters
If you record receipts as new sales when they are invoice payments, you double-count income. If you never record receipts against invoices, AR stays overstated and cash still goes up. Match the receipt to the invoice.
Keep learning
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What are cash receipts?
Inflows of money you have actually collected: checks, cards, ACH, and currency. They update cash (or undeposited funds) and, if they pay an invoice, they reduce accounts receivable.
What is an example of a cash receipt?
An ACH from a customer on an open invoice, a settled card batch from the weekend, or a $60 cash sale deposited with the till. A mailed invoice that has not been paid is not a receipt.
Are cash receipts the same as accounts receivable?
No. Receivable is unpaid. A receipt is collected. Paying an invoice turns AR into a cash receipt.
Where do cash receipts go in QuickBooks or Xero?
To a bank or undeposited-funds account, applied to an invoice or recorded as a sale. The cash-receipts journal is the dated list of those inflows, not a separate kind of money.