A bill recognizing and counting apparatus includes an operation unit that receives setting of bill processing modes including a denomination mode, a counting mode, a different-denomination recognition mode, and an authenticity determination mode; a feeding and transporting mechanism; and a control unit that performs control for changing a processing speed according to the bill processing mode. When the bill processing mode is in the counting mode, the different-denomination recognition mode, or the authenticity determination mode, the control unit increases the processing speed by setting the feeding and transporting mechanism to a higher speed than the speed set in the denomination mode. The increase in speed is in accordance with a reduced time necessary to process a reduced amount of data associated with the denomination mode.