Q.On 31 July 2026, the Pass Book of Kavya Traders showed an overdraft of ₹3,000. On comparison with the Cash Book, the following differences were found:

Even with an overdraft, the reversed Pass-Book-to-Cash-Book rule still applies directly to the signed figure: subtract cheques issued-not-presented, add cheques deposited-not-collected.

Treating the overdraft as a signed number throughout: Balance as per Pass Book = −3,000 (an overdraft). Applying the Pass-Book-to-Cash-Book rule: cheques issued but not yet presented are SUBTRACTED (−1,500), and cheques deposited but not yet collected are ADDED (+800).

−3,000 − 1,500 = −4,500

−4,500 + 800 = −3,700 …

Students often lose the negative sign partway through an overdraft calculation, especially when an 'Add' item is involved, and end up reporting a favourable balance where an overdraft is the correct answer — always carry the minus sign (or brackets) through ever …