What is necessary to process a customer refund?

To process a customer refund, having a printed check or currency payment is essential as it represents the actual mechanism through which the funds are returned to the customer. This option emphasizes the importance of physically issuing the money to the customer, ensuring that the transaction is completed and that the financial records accurately reflect the outflow of cash from the company.

The other choices, while they may involve aspects related to refunds, do not serve as the fundamental requirement for actually executing the refund transaction. For example, approval from the finance department may be part of internal controls but is not a technical necessity to issue a refund. Similarly, issuing a credit memo can be part of the process but is typically used in different scenarios, such as adjusting invoices rather than directly refunding cash. Customer confirmation may be relevant for communication but does not impact the actual mechanics of processing a refund. Thus, the need for a printed check or currency shows the direct link between the refund process and the actual payment method used to return funds to a customer.