Use the following information to answer the question The following transactions were recorded in the cash book of Ibusah for the month of February 2019: The...

In a cash book, the total income for the month is the sum of all cash received during the period, excluding the opening balance brought forward. The balance brought forward (balance b/f) represents cash carried over from the previous period and is not income earned in the current month.

From the cash book of Ibusah for February 2019, the receipts (debit) side includes:

• An opening balance brought forward from the previous month
• Income items received during February, such as commission received and cash received from debtors (e.g. Ojah)

A common error is to add the opening balance to the income items. The total of the entire debit side of the cash book (including the opening balance) comes to D 478,300, but this figure represents total receipts, not total income. Total income counts only the money actually earned or received as revenue during February.

Adding only the income transactions recorded during the month gives:

\[ \text{Total income} = \text{Sum of all income items (excluding balance b/f)} = \text{D } 278{,}000 \]

The figure D 154,800 is the total of the payments (credit) side of the cash book, which represents total expenditure, not income. The figure D 180,000 represents only one of the individual income items (commission received), not the full total.

When working with cash book questions, always distinguish between the balance brought forward (which is a carried-over asset, not current income) and the actual income transactions of the period.