Gross Balance or Book Balance
Gross Balance or Book Balance
Gross Balance or Book Balance
This refers to the total amount of money a bank has on deposit before adjusting for
cleared checks or deposits, as well as reserve requirements. That is, the book balance
is a measure of what the bank has on hand before adding or subtracting regulatory
obligation and items that will soon appear on its books. This is the term used by banks
to describe the amount of money available before any adjustment made for deposits
in transit, checks that have not been cleared, and reserve requirements received from
“float funds”.
A simple case of gross balance refers to what is readily available for you to use based
on your bank deposits.
Example 10. A check amounting to PhP5,000 that has been deposited today may not
be withdrawn the next day because it has not cleared yet. If your bank passbook
currently contains PhP30,000, you may not be able to withdraw the whole amount yet
because your gross balance is only PhP25,000 since your check has not been cleared
yet.
Example 11. As of this month’s cut-off date, the current total amount due from your
purchases using your credit card is PhP 99,386.59. The minimum required payment
is 5% of the total amount due. If you pay only the minimum required payment, a
financing charge of 3.4% of the remaining
balance will be charged to the next bill. Assuming you refrain from using your credit
card on any of your purchases for the next 3 months and the financing charge of 3.4%
is charged every billing period, show your expected monthly bill for the next 3 months.
Solution: Given the current bill of PhP 99,386.59, the minimum required payment is
0.05(99,386.59) = PhP4,969.33. If only the minimum required payment is paid, then
the remaining debt balance is 99,386.59 - 4,969.33 = PhP94, 417.26. Assuming there
are no credit bill transactions for the next 3 months and only the minimum required
payment each month is paid, the table below shows the monthly total amount due for
each of the next 3 months.