Allowance for Doubtful Accounts: Methods of Accounting for

Analysts carefully monitor the days outstanding numbers for signs of weakening business conditions. One of the first signs of a business downturn is a delay in the payment cycle. These delays tend to have ripple effects; if a company has trouble collecting its receivables, it won’t be long before it may have trouble paying its own obligations. If this does not eventually prove to be true, an adjustment of the overall estimation rates may be indicated. In a few rare cases, you might have a customer pay his debt after you’ve given up on it and written it off.

Thus, you may be in the position of recognizing (and paying tax on) income that you never actually receive, and not knowing this until a later tax year. The understanding is that the couple will make payments each month toward the principal borrowed, plus interest. With accounting software like QuickBooks, you can access important insights, including your allowance for doubtful accounts. With such data, you can 10 things to consider when choosing an accounting firm plan for your business’s future, keep track of paid and unpaid customer invoices, and even automate friendly payment reminders when needed. For example, it has 100 customers, but after assessing its aging report decides that 10 will go uncollected.

Percentage of Credit Sales Method Example

Let’s consider a situation where BWW had a $20,000 debit balance from the previous period. Allowance for Doubtful Accounts decreases (debit) and Accounts Receivable for the specific customer also decreases (credit). Allowance for doubtful accounts decreases because the bad debt amount is no longer unclear. Accounts receivable decreases because there is an assumption that no debt will be collected on the identified customer’s account.

1. The percentage of receivables method estimates the allowance for doubtful accounts using a percentage of the accounts receivable at the end of the accounting period.
2. This involves debiting the allowance for doubtful accounts account and crediting the accounts receivable account.
3. The allowance method is the more widely used method because it satisfies the matching principle.
4. The allowance, sometimes called a bad debt reserve, represents management’s estimate of the amount of accounts receivable that will not be paid by customers.
5. Accounts receivable represent amounts due from customers as a result of credit sales.
6. Then, the sales method estimate of the allowance for bad debt would be $15,000.

If, like most businesses, you use the accrual method, the process is a little more complicated. It’s complicated because you actually accrue a bad debt when you sell your goods or services on credit to a customer who does not pay you. You must recognize the income from the sale at that time, but you won’t know that the customer did not pay until you’ve exhausted all of your collection alternatives. Since this can take a year or more to determine, you often won’t know that a past-due account is a bad debt until a later tax year.

The second method of estimating the allowance for doubtful accounts is the aging method. All outstanding accounts receivable are grouped by age, and specific percentages are applied to each group. You are willing to accept the risk that a few customers might not pay you, in order to gain sales from customers who simply need more time to pay. In order to accurately determine your costs of doing business over a given period of time, you have to match your accrued bad debts during the period against the sales they help generate. To illustrate, let’s continue to use Billie’s Watercraft Warehouse (BWW) as the example.

Accounts Receivable Aging Method

This entry assumes a zero balance in Allowance for Doubtful Accounts from the prior period. BWW estimates 15% of its overall accounts receivable will result in bad debt. The allowance method complies with the matching principle as an estimate of the bad debt expense is recorded in the same accounting period in which the credit sales and accounts receivable are recorded.

Once the categorization is complete, businesses can estimate each group’s historical bad debt percentage. The allowance for doubtful accounts is an estimate of the portion of accounts receivable that your business does not expect to collect during a given accounting period. By following these steps, companies can maintain accurate financial statements and account for the possibility of bad debts. This allows companies to account for the possibility of bad debts and maintain accurate financial statements. This involves reviewing the accounts receivable balance and assessing the likelihood of customers not paying their bills. You record the allowance for doubtful accounts by debiting the Bad Debt Expense account and crediting the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts account.

By making this journal entry, companies can ensure that the allowance for doubtful accounts is properly recorded and maintained. The allowance for doubtful accounts is an important accounting tool that helps companies to account for the possibility of uncollectible accounts. Management may disclose its method of estimating the allowance for doubtful accounts in its notes to the financial statements. For example, a company has $70,000 of accounts receivable less than 30 days outstanding and $30,000 of accounts receivable more than 30 days outstanding. Based on previous experience, 1% of accounts receivable less than 30 days old will be uncollectible, and 4% of those accounts receivable at least 30 days old will be uncollectible.

This journal entry takes into account a debit balance of $20,000 and adds how to show a negative balance in accounting the prior period’s balance to the estimated balance of $58,097 in the current period. The final point relates to companies with very little exposure to the possibility of bad debts, typically, entities that rarely offer credit to its customers. Assuming that credit is not a significant component of its sales, these sellers can also use the direct write-off method.

Accept payments

Recovering an account may involve working with the debtor directly, working with a collection agency, or pursuing legal action. In practice, adjusting can happen semiannually, quarterly, or even monthly—depending on the size and complexity of the organization’s receivables. As a general rule, the longer a bill goes uncollected past its due date, the less likely it is to be paid.

Many countries have very liberal laws that make it difficult to enforce collection on customers who decide not to pay or use “legal maneuvers” to escape their obligations. As a result, businesses must be very careful in selecting parties that are allowed trade credit in the normal course of business. It is customary to gather this information by getting a credit application from a customer, checking out credit references, obtaining reports from credit reporting agencies, and similar measures. Oftentimes, it becomes necessary to secure payment in advance or receive some other substantial guaranty such as a letter of credit from an independent bank. All of these steps are normal business practices, and no apologies are needed for making inquiries into the creditworthiness of potential customers.

Accounts Receivable Method

Some companies may classify different types of debt or different types of vendors using risk classifications. For example, a start-up customer may be considered a high risk, while an established, long-tenured customer may be a low risk. In this example, the company often assigns a percentage to each classification of debt. Then, it aggregates all receivables in each grouping, calculates each group by the percentage, and records an allowance equal to the aggregate of all products.

How to Estimate the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

The longer the time passes with a receivable unpaid, the lower the probability that it will get collected. An account that is 90 days overdue is more likely to be unpaid than an account that is 30 days past due. The balance sheet method (also known as the percentage of accounts receivable method) estimates bad debt expenses based on the balance in accounts receivable. The method looks at the balance of accounts receivable at the end of the period and assumes that a certain amount will not be collected. Accounts receivable is reported on the balance sheet; thus, it is called the balance sheet method.

The allowance method is a technique for estimating and recording of uncollectible amounts when a customer fails to pay, and is the preferred alternative to the direct write-off method. The specific identification method allows a company to pick specific customers that it expects not to pay. In this case, our jewelry store would use its judgment to assess which accounts might go uncollected. While collecting all the money you’re owed is the best-case scenario, small business owners know that things don’t always go as planned. Estimating invoices you won’t be able to collect will help you prepare more accurate financial statements and better understand important metrics like cash flow, working capital, and net income.