what is a disbursement 
a disbursement is a payment to an individual or entity from a private or public fund a disbursement may also be a payment made on behalf of a client to a third party it may be money paid into a business operating budget the delivery of a loan amount to a borrower or a dividend to shareholders examples of disbursementsremote or delayed disbursement deliberately stalls the payment process by paying with a check drawn from a bank located in a remote region when banks could process a payment only when the original paper check was received this delayed the debit to the payer s account for several business days electronic transfers have made delayed disbursements less common 7accounting for disbursementsin bookkeeping a company makes disbursements during a set period such as a quarter or a year a bookkeeper records each transaction and posts it to one or more ledgers such as a cash disbursement journal and the general ledger 8disbursements are recorded with the date the payee name the amount debited or credited the payment method and the purpose of the payment the overall cash balance of the business is adjusted to account for the disbursement disbursement journals and ledgers are records of the money flowing out and may differ from actual profit or loss a company using the accrual method of accounting reports expenses when they occur not necessarily when they are paid and reports income when earned not when it is received the type of items listed in the ledger depends on the business a retailer has payments for inventory accounts payable and salaries a manufacturer has transactions for raw materials and production costs disbursement vs drawdowna disbursement is a payment a drawdown is the consequence of a particular type of disbursement when money is withdrawn from a retirement account a retiree receives a disbursement that disbursement represents a drawdown on the balance in their account 9