Outstanding check
In accounting, outstanding check means a check recorded as paid in the books but not yet presented to the bank — deducted from the bank balance in a reconciliation.
- Layer
- Lexicon
- Defined in
- Lexicon
- Nearby
- 4
Not a rule
Bookkeeping convention — not codified. US GAAP governs recognition, measurement and presentation — not the mechanics a bookkeeper uses to get there. Anyone citing a standard for this word is citing the wrong thing.
Every citation in this system, with the text we read and the date we checked it, is in US GAAP and where these rules come from.
The lesson that teaches this
Accounting, 0 to 1 — a free course taught end to end on one month of one company, with the spreadsheet exercises to work it yourself.
Outstanding check, in use
Quoted from the document that use the word — what it does to an interface, in the spec's own sentence.
A 3-day-old outstanding check is normal; a 200-day-old one is a control finding.
For founders
The same idea written for a founder: what it costs a startup that ignores it, and what to do in a real month.
- Bank reconciliation step by stepMatch the bank statement to the books, clear deposits in transit and outstanding checks, book the fees, and reach a $0.00 difference every month.
- How to pay vendors: ACH vs wire vs check vs cardACH, wire, check or card: what each payment rail costs, how long it takes, where the fraud risk sits, and how each payment is recorded in the books.
What it is not called
Each of these is a real word for a different thing. Using it here is what makes a product read as though it was built by someone who has not done the work.
- uncleared check
Nearby in the catalog
No component names this concept outright. These are the ones in its part of the system, which is a weaker claim — but a component nothing links to is a component nobody finds.
Terms this one depends on
Also in Cash
Defined in Lexicon. This page is generated from that document, so the two cannot disagree.