Some companies may keep cash accounts . The rules that will apply depend in particular on the nature of the activity carried out: commercial activity or liberal activity. Compta-Facile answers the question here: how to keep cash accounts ?
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Keep cash accounting according to the nature of the activity carried out
Keep cash accounting, rules applicable during the year
Keep cash accounting, rules at the end of the year
Keep cash accounting according to the nature of the activity carried out
The cash basis (also called the accounting “revenue / expenditure ‘ or’ receipts / disbursements”) applies:
- As of rightto companies holding non-commercial profits ( BNC ), that is to say those exercising a non-commercial activity (intellectual, technical or care services) taxed on income tax;
- Optionto certain companies holding industrial and commercial profits ( BIC ), that is to say those which exercise a commercial, artisanal or industrial activity subject to income tax (we speak of option for accounting super-simplified).
The nature of the activity (BIC or BNC) will have a considerable impact on the rules applicable in this area. They differ depending on when you place yourself: during the accounting year or at the end of the accounting year.
Keep cash accounting, rules applicable during the year
During the year, the same rules for keeping cash accounts will apply for all businesses. The nature of their activity (commercial or liberal) does not matter.
Classify your accounting documents according to a particular methodology
The cash accounting greatly simplifies the accounting process. However, to be effective , it must be based on certain principles. The most important of them is the ranking .
Companies that keep cash accounts must classify their accounting documents, every month (or every fortnight depending on the periodicity of sending the bank statement) as follows:
- First page: paper statement sent by the bank,
- Following pages: supporting documents classified in the same order as that of the financial movements (chronologically or according to the means of payment).
This classification method has two advantages. First, it allows operations to be entered more quickly (if they cannot be retrieved automatically by a process). Then, it makes it possible to quickly find a supporting document in case of need (it suffices to locate the month during which the movement takes place and to find the corresponding bank statement).
Enter the supporting documents in the accounting software
Then, you must enter all the operations appearing on the bank statement , by debit and / or credit order . This concerns:
- All expenses resulting in a disbursement: purchase invoices, tax notices, payroll slips, operator withdrawals, etc.
- All receipts materialized by a collection: sales invoices, contributions from the operator, tax rebates or taxes…
In cash accounting, the general accounts for customers (411) and suppliers (401) are never entered since the sums do not pass through auxiliary purchase and sales journals. You must enter only expense accounts (class 6), products (class 7) as well as certain other balance sheet accounts (VAT accounts for example).
Good to know: certain procedures allow all bank entries to be automatically retrieved . This solution has the advantage of not having to manually enter banking transactions. It will affect transactions in the correct accounts. Any entries that it fails to charge will be classified in a suspense account. It will only remain to allocate these sums.
Once entered, the accounting documents must be annotated and numbered .
Keep cash accounting, rules at the end of the year
At the end of the year, that is to say at the end of the accounting year, the cash accounting rules differ depending on the nature of the activity (BIC or BNC).
Cash accounting rules for a BNC at the end of the year
The BNC holders benefit from relief very important at the end of the accounting year. The amount of their profit is equal to the excess of receipts collected over expenses disbursed. Here, according to the tax texts, the only adjustment entries to be recorded at the end of the year:
- The depreciationof fixed assets;
- Value Added Tax( VAT ) entries .
In addition, taxpayers subject to BNC must keep two special documents:
- A register of fixed assets and depreciation,
- And a book-journal of professional receipts and expenses.
Optionally, they can apply accrual accounting rules to some extent.
Cash accounting rules for a BIC at the end of the year
For BIC holders , the rules are becoming more complex. They are obliged to:
- Identify receivables acquired and debts incurred and record them in purchase and sales journals;
- Count, evaluate the goods in stock and record them in a journal of various operations;
- Check the fixed assets present in the company and note the depreciation;
- Carry out regularization operations aimed at attaching certain operating expenses to the financial year (deferred income and charges, payable charges and receivables, etc.).
To sum up, at the end of the financial year, the company switches from cash to commercial accounting . It must therefore comply with all the obligations provided for by the Commercial Code and the General Tax Code.
