BSCS Officer Cash Exam cheat sheet

Cash denominations in Pakistan: notes of Rs 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000; coins of Rs 1, 2, 5 and 10. Rs 5,000 notes carry enhanced security features and are subject to stricter sorting rules.

Cash received from a customer must be counted in the customer's presence, and the counted amount confirmed aloud before the transaction is posted.

Note sorting follows the 'note-for-note' principle: soiled, mutilated or counterfeit-suspect notes are separated, stamped appropriately and never reissued to the public.

A counterfeit note detected at the counter is impounded, a receipt is issued to the presenter, and the matter is reported to the branch manager and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) per prescribed procedure.

Cash balance at any point equals opening balance plus receipts minus payments; the physical count must equal this computed figure at all times.

Cash limits: branches hold a fixed cash-in-till limit; excess cash above the limit is remitted to the currency chest or higher office, and shortages are recorded immediately.

Cash difference (shortage/excess) is booked to a suspense or difference account the same day; repeated differences trigger disciplinary and audit review.

Dual control applies to cash: two officials jointly verify large receipts, cash chest operations, and end-of-day balancing to prevent single-person control.

Teller opening procedure: verify allotted cash float against the teller cash sheet, sign the register, and confirm the terminal/operator ID before serving customers.

End-of-day teller balancing: total receipts and payments, reconcile to the system teller blotter, count physical cash, and report any difference to the head teller.

Vault dual control rule: the vault is opened only in the presence of two authorised officers, each holding a separate key or combination share.

Vault register records date, time, persons present, amount removed or deposited, and purpose; every entry is initialled by both custodians.

Cash in transit is covered by insurance and accompanied by armed escort; the receiving officer counts and signs the remittance advice before the carrier is released.

Teller cash limits and drawer limits are set by the branch; transactions above the teller authority limit are referred to the supervisor or manager.

Large cash withdrawals require prior notice, identity verification, and where applicable, recording of the purpose consistent with AML rules.

Night safe and ATM replenishment follow the same dual-control and reconciliation discipline as vault operations; ATM cash is reconciled per cassette.

KYC: customer identity is established via CNIC (or passport/NICOP for non-residents), verified against the NADRA record, and recorded before account opening.

CDD is ongoing: customer profiles, beneficial ownership and risk ratings are updated on trigger events, not only at onboarding.

STR (Suspicious Transaction Report) is filed with the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) promptly; tipping off the customer is prohibited.

CTR (Currency Transaction Report) is filed for cash transactions at or above the threshold set by the regulator (commonly Rs 2 million for individuals and Rs 2.5 million for legal persons, per SBP AML/CFT regulations).

Record retention: transaction records and identity documents are kept for at least five years after the end of the business relationship or the transaction.

PEPs (Politically Exposed Persons) require senior management approval, source-of-funds verification and enhanced ongoing monitoring.

Banking Companies Ordinance 1962 and SBP prudential regulations govern licensing, capital, lending limits and conduct; SBP is the supervisor for banks.

Sanctions screening: names are checked against the UNSC, OFAC and local proscribed-persons lists before onboarding and on every update of those lists.

Accounting equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity; every journal entry keeps this equation in balance (double-entry).

Debit increases assets and expenses; credit increases liabilities, equity and income. A debit entry must equal the credit entry.

Trial balance lists all ledger balances; total debits must equal total credits. A balanced trial balance does not by itself prove absence of errors.

Bank reconciliation: adjusted book balance = book balance + credits not yet recorded by the bank - charges not yet recorded; adjusted bank balance = bank statement balance + deposits in transit - outstanding cheques.

Suspense account holds unexplained differences temporarily; it must be cleared within a defined period and never left to accumulate.

Accrual basis: revenue is recognised when earned and expenses when incurred, regardless of cash movement; cash basis records only cash flows.

Provision for doubtful debts is an estimate based on ageing of receivables; it reduces net receivables and is charged to the income statement.

Nostro account is our account with a foreign bank; Vostro is a foreign bank's account with us. Inter-branch transactions are reconciled through these and mirror accounts.

Simple interest: SI = P × R × T / 100. Compound interest: A = P(1 + R/100)^T; CI = A - P.

Percentage change = (new - old) / old × 100. Successive percentage changes of a% and b% give a net change of a + b + ab/100.

Profit/loss: profit% = (SP - CP)/CP × 100; SP = CP × (100 + profit%)/100.

Average = sum of values / number of values. If a value is added, new average = (old sum + new value)/(old count + 1).

Ratio and proportion: if a:b = c:d then ad = bc. Work problems use rate = 1/time; combined rate is the sum of individual rates.

Speed = distance / time; for a train passing a pole, time = length of train / speed; passing a platform, time = (train + platform)/speed.

Data interpretation: read axis scales and units carefully, compute percentages from totals rather than eyeballing, and check whether the question asks for absolute or relative change.

Permutation vs combination: permutations count order (nPr = n!/(n-r)!), combinations do not (nCr = n!/(r!(n-r)!)).

Formal business letter structure: sender's address, date, recipient's address, salutation, subject line, body, complimentary close, signature and designation.

Active voice: 'The teller counted the cash.' Passive voice: 'The cash was counted by the teller.' Prefer active voice in reports for clarity.

Subject-verb agreement: singular subject takes a singular verb; collective nouns (committee, staff) take a singular verb when acting as one unit.

Commonly confused pairs: principal/principle, affect (verb)/effect (noun), complement/compliment, stationary/stationery, advice (noun)/advise (verb).

Email etiquette: clear subject line, one purpose per message, greeting and sign-off, no all-caps, and proofread before sending.

Precis and comprehension: identify the main idea, omit examples, and keep the summary to about one-third of the original length.

Idioms and phrases in banking contexts: 'in the black' (profitable), 'in the red' (loss-making), 'cash cow' (reliable revenue source), 'ballpark figure' (approximate estimate).

Punctuation: use a comma to separate independent clauses joined by a conjunction; use a semicolon between closely related independent clauses without a conjunction.

State Bank of Pakistan was established on 1 July 1948; it is the central bank and regulator of the banking system, headquartered in Karachi.

SBP monetary policy is set by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC); the policy rate is the SBP policy rate, and the corridor is bounded by the SBP deposit rate (floor) and the ceiling rate.

Key economic indicators: GDP growth, CPI inflation, current account balance, fiscal deficit as % of GDP, foreign exchange reserves held by SBP, and PKR/USD exchange rate.

Pakistan's fiscal year runs from 1 July to 30 June; the federal budget is presented in June and monetary policy statements are issued on a scheduled calendar.

Pakistan is a member of the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank; it has repeatedly used IMF Extended Fund Facility programmes.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is the main equity market; KSE-100 is its benchmark index. SECP regulates the capital market and non-bank financial sector.

Roshan Digital Account allows non-resident Pakistanis to open and operate bank accounts in Pakistan remotely; it is a key source of remittances alongside normal home remittance channels.

CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) links Gwadar port to Kashgar via road, rail and energy projects; it is a major driver of infrastructure investment.

Core Banking System (CBS) is the centralised software that posts transactions to customer accounts across branches in real time; teller modules within CBS handle cash receipts and payments.

Operating system basics: Windows uses File Explorer; Ctrl+C copies, Ctrl+V pastes, Ctrl+X cuts, Ctrl+Z undoes, Ctrl+S saves, Ctrl+F finds, Alt+Tab switches windows.

Spreadsheet formulas: =SUM(A1:A10), =AVERAGE(A1:A10), =IF(condition, value_if_true, value_if_false), =VLOOKUP(value, range, col_index, FALSE), =ROUND(number, digits).

Cell references: A1 is relative (changes when copied), $A$1 is absolute (fixed), A$1 and $A1 are mixed references.

Email and file security: use strong passwords, never share OTPs or PINs, lock the terminal when leaving (Windows+L), and log out of CBS after use.

Data backup: 3-2-1 rule - three copies, on two different media, with one copy off-site. Backups must be tested by restore, not just taken.

SWIFT messaging: MT103 is a single customer credit transfer; MT202 is a general financial institution transfer; MT940 is a customer statement message.

Phishing and social engineering: verify the sender domain, never click unexpected links, and confirm unusual payment instructions by a separate known channel.

Syllogism rules: 'All A are B' plus 'All B are C' implies 'All A are C'. 'Some A are B' converts to 'Some B are A'. 'No A are B' converts to 'No B are A'.

Seating arrangement: draw the circle or row, fix one person as an anchor, then place others using left/right or clockwise/counter-clockwise clues.

Blood relations: draw a family tree with gender markers; 'A's father's sister' is A's paternal aunt; 'brother's son' is nephew.

Coding-decoding: check for letter shifts (e.g., +1, +2), reversal, or position-based substitution before assuming a complex rule.

Number series: test differences, then ratios, then alternating patterns; also check squares, cubes and primes.

Direction sense: use a compass sketch; after a 90-degree right turn from north you face east; net displacement uses Pythagoras for perpendicular moves.

Statement-assumption and cause-effect: an assumption is what the author must believe for the statement to hold; a cause must precede and plausibly explain the effect.

Data sufficiency: determine whether the given statements are sufficient to answer the question; do not actually solve unless needed, and never use outside information.