Having one's head above water, beginning to accumulate cash in hand (6)
I believe the answer is:
afloat
'having one's head above water' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'beginning to accumulate cash in hand' is the wordplay.
'beginning to' indicates taking the first letters.
'cash in hand' becomes 'float' (I've seen this before).
The first letter of 'accumulate' is 'a'.
'a'+'float'='AFLOAT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for afloat that I've seen before include "On the surface" , "Buoyant: solvent" , "Aboard ship" , "Resting on water" , "On board a ship; out of difficulty" .)