Cash Payments Journal
What is a Cash Payments Journal?
A cash payments journal is used to record any cash payments a business makes.
![cpj1](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj1.jpg)
How it Works
In the days of manual accounting systems, transactions were recorded in journals.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj2.jpg)
One of those journals was the cash payments journal.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj3.jpg)
You used this journal whenever the business paid for anything with cash.
![cpj4](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cpj4.jpg)
Most of the transactions you recorded were for goods, wages, phone etc.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj5.jpg)
You also needed to record any payments made to suppliers.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj6.jpg)
And you needed to record any money the business owner withdrew from the business.
![cpj7](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cpj7.jpg)
Usually, you needed to update the journal every day throughout the month.
![cpj8](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cpj8.jpg)
At month end, you totaled its columns.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj9.jpg)
Then you checked them via a process of cross footing.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj10.jpg)
This is where you check your work by checking that column totals equal row totals.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj11.jpg)
After this, you posted column totals to accounts.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj12.jpg)
Recording Journal Transactions
Like all journals, the cash payments journal was in columnar format.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj13-1.jpg)
Some cash payment journals had a general column for all payment types.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj14-1.jpg)
Others had separate columns for each payment type.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj15-1.jpg)
When recording a cash payment, you record the payment amount in the cash column.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj16-1.jpg)
The cash column is a credit entry.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj17-1.jpg)
This shows money came from the checking account.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj18-1.jpg)
After this, you record the payment in the appropriate payment account.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj19-1.jpg)
The payment columns are debits.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj20-1.jpg)
This shows where the payment was used or where it went.
![](https://seeaccountingnow.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cpj21-1.jpg)
© R.J. Hickman 2020