Cash disbursements, also called cash payments, in accounting refer to payments made by a company during a specified period, such as quarter or year. It includes payments made by cash, but also by cash equivalents like checks or electronic fund transfers. Each entry on the cash disbursements page should include the date, amount, payment method and purpose of the transaction.
Cash disbursements measure the amount of money that's actually flowing out of a company, which may be very different from the company's actual profit or loss. For example, if your business uses the accrual method of accounting, you report expenses when you incur them, not when you pay them. Similarly, income is reported when you earn it, not when you're actually paid. But, if your earnings aren't coming through as quickly as you'd like but you're paying expenses, you could be reporting a profit but run out of cash.
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