Cash and Cash Equivalents (2024)

Cash and Cash Equivalents Definition

Cash and Cash equivalents are related to the detail on the balance sheet that summarises the value of a business’s assets that are cash or can be transformed into cash instantly. The cash equivalents consist of marketable securities, bank accounts, short-term government bonds, commercial paper and Treasury bills with a maturity date of 3 months or less. Marketable bonds and money market holdings are estimated cash equivalents as they are liquid and not directed to substantial variations in the state.

As mentioned earlier :

  • The cash flow report depicts the outflows and inflows of cash and cash equivalents of different actions of the firm during a distinct time
  • According to the Accounting Standard -3, ‘Cash’ includes funds in hand and demand securities with the banks (financial institutions) and ‘Cash equivalents’ involves short-term extremely liquid financing that are easily changeable into established values of cash and which are subjected to a petty peril to differences in the value
  • Financing usually fits as cash equivalents when it has a low maturity, three (3) months or less from the date of purchase

Criteria for Cash Equivalent

The following are the criteria required for being considered as a cash equivalent:

1. The investment should mature within three months. If maturity period is more than 3 months, it can be considered as any other investment.

2. The investment instruments should be highly liquid which means that there should be many buyer of the instrument in the market at any time.

3. The market price of such instruments should be made known, so that they can be easily converted into that particular amount easily. The market price must not vary with the corresponding market fluctuations.

4. The risk factors associated with such instruments should be less and the instrument should be able to maintain their value in fluctuating market conditions.

You Might Also Read: What is Cash Flow Statement?

This concludes the article on the topic of Cash and Cash Equivalents, which is an important topic for Class 12 Commerce students. For more such interesting articles, stay tuned to BYJU’S.

Cash and Cash Equivalents (2024)

FAQs

How to solve cash and cash equivalents? ›

The total value of cash and cash equivalents is calculated by adding together the total of all cash accounts and any highly liquid investments that can be easily converted into cash that qualify as a cash equivalent.

What is the cash and cash equivalents equal to? ›

Cash and cash equivalents refers to the line item on the balance sheet that reports the value of a company's assets that are cash or can be converted into cash immediately. Cash equivalents include bank accounts and some types of marketable securities such as commercial paper and short-term government bonds.

Is it good to have high cash and cash equivalents? ›

Cash and cash equivalents can provide liquidity, portfolio stability and emergency funds. Cash equivalent securities include savings, checking and money market accounts, and short-term investments. A general rule of thumb is that cash and cash equivalents should comprise between 2% and 10% of your portfolio.

What must cash and cash equivalents be? ›

Cash includes currency, demand deposits, and short-term, highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash. It must be unrestricted and used in current operations. Cash equivalents are short-term investments acquired within 3 months of maturity that present insignificant change in value.

What is the formula for cash equivalency? ›

How to calculate cash equivalent sale price? Find the present value of the principal balance at the market rate. Add the PV of the payments to the PV of the principal balance and to the cash down payment. This equals the cash equivalent value or adjusted sale price.

How do you calculate net cash and cash equivalents? ›

In order to calculate net cash, you must first add up all cash (not credit) receipts for a period. This amount is often referred to as "gross cash." Once totaled, cash outflows paid out for obligations and liabilities are deducted from gross cash; the difference is net cash.

How do you calculate cash ratio cash equivalents? ›

The three formulas are as follows: Cash Ratio: Cash + Cash Equivalents / Current Liabilities. Quick Ratio: Current Assets - Inventory / Current Liabilities. Current Ratio: Current Assets / Current Liabilities.

How is cash and cash equivalents measured? ›

Cash equivalents can be reported at their fair value, together with cash on the balance sheet. Fair value will be their cost at acquisition plus accrued interest to the date of the balance sheet.

How do you calculate excess cash and cash equivalents? ›

The formula for calculating excess cash is: Excess Cash = Total Cash – MAX (Total Current Liabilities – Total Current Non-Cash Assets) Where: Total Cash = Cash and cash equivalents + short term investments Total Current Non-Cash Assets = Total Current Assets - Total cash Most growing businesses have high working ...

What is the cash equation formula? ›

Important cash flow formulas to know about:

Free Cash Flow = Net income + Depreciation/Amortization – Change in Working Capital – Capital Expenditure. Operating Cash Flow = Operating Income + Depreciation – Taxes + Change in Working Capital.

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