The most liquid form of assets which includes petty cash funds, bank deposit balances, and cash equivalents. Cash equivalents are assets that can be readily and easily converted into cash without impacting their value (they include highly liquid fixed income securities with maturities less than three months, such as short-term money market instruments, treasury bills, etc).

Differently stated, cash refers to current assets that can be accessed immediately in order to meet short-term needs for ready money. It may also include unused portions of overdraft facilities or lines of credit.