what is unrestricted cash 
unrestricted cash refers to cash that is readily available to be spent for any purpose and has not been pledged as collateral for a debt obligation or other purpose often to satisfy debt covenants companies must maintain a certain level of cash on their balance sheets in case the company defaults or goes into nonpayment of their credit obligations the remaining cash that exceeds the covenant requirements is referred to as unrestricted cash unrestricted cash is a part of an organization s liquid funds meaning it s easily accessible unrestricted cash is important since it shows how much cash a company has to meet its short term bills and credit obligations understanding unrestricted cashunrestricted cash is listed on a company s balance sheet however it is typically listed as cash and cash equivalents unrestricted cash or cash and cash equivalents represent the money that an organization can spend today meaning the money is readily available or liquid unrestricted cash is considered a current asset on the balance sheet since it can be readily accessed and spent in the short term liquidity is critical to companies since having enough cash available can help a company meet its short term debt obligations and pay its vendors and suppliers these short term debt obligations and bills that are due within 90 days are called current liabilities unrestricted cash helps companies ensure that they have enough current assets to cover their current liabilities called working capital cash and cash equivalents include the following liquid assets 