Is Accounts Receivable an Asset? | F&A Glossary (2024)

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What are Accounts Receivable Assets?

Accounts receivable are considered an asset in the business’s accounting ledger because they can be converted to cash in the near term.

Most businesses have accounts receivable. These are sales for which payment has not yet been received. The customer has not paid for the good or service received at the time of the transaction. I

Instead, the business has extended credit to the customer and expects to receive payment for the transaction at some point in the future.

Accounts receivable represent convertible assets owed to the company. That is, they describe a financial resource that can be converted to cash in the near future, once the customer has paid. An asset is any resource that provides monetary value to a business. It can help the business produce economic value and can be converted to cash.

Assets are usually classified into one of two categories—current and non-current. Current assets refer to those that are liquid, meaning they can be easily converted to cash in less than a year.

Accounts receivable are typically collected in two months or less. For this reason, they are considered a current asset or a “short-term asset.”

When are Accounts Receivable Assets Used?

Accounts receivable assets will be recorded in the balance sheet for the business along with other assets.

The balance sheet is a document that summarizes the business’s overall financial status. It is a static document that provides this information at a specific point in time.

By providing detailed information at a fixed point in time, the balance sheet can be said to provide a “snapshot” of the business and its key financial indicators.

Information in the balance sheet represents the three fundamental accounting measures: assets, liabilities, and equity. Accounts receivable will be recorded in the balance sheet along with other short-term or current assets, such as cash, cash equivalents, stock inventory, marketable securities, and prepaid expenses.

Typically, assets are listed first on the balance sheet, followed by liabilities and equity. Sometimes assets are listed in the left column, and liabilities and equity are listed on the right. In either case, the balance sheet is organized around the fundamental accounting equation, which is represented as: Assets = Liabilities + Equity. All data in the balance sheet is arranged according to these three categories.

FAQ

How are Accounts Receivable Assets Calculated?

Accounts receivable record purchases and transactions that have not yet been paid for by the customer. In a perfect world, all accounts receivable will be collected in the standard timeframe of one year or less.

In reality, this does not happen. Some accounts receivable will never be collected—this is considered bad debt.

Bad debt offsets accounts receivable assets by subtracting the value of the asset in the income statement. Because businesses do not know if or when an accounts receivable will become a bad debt, they estimate instead.

The business can estimate bad debt in one of two ways.

Direct write-off method—with this method, accounts are written off as a loss once they are determined to be uncollectible. Because this method does not adhere to the matching principal, it is the less acceptable accounting method.

Allowance method—this method allows the business to remain consistent with the matching principal. According to this method, the business will set aside a reserve for expected bad debts, also called doubtful accounts. This reserve, or allowance, is referred to as a contra asset account because it “nets” or balances against the accounts receivable assets listed in the balance sheet.

The allowance is calculated based on an estimate of how many accounts receivable might not be collectible. The estimate is calculated as a percentage of sales multiplied by a historical average of accounts receivable that have gone uncollected.

Although it is based on an estimate, this method allows a business to align bad debt to the reporting period in which the sale occurs. This is in accordance with the matching principal, and therefore, it is considered a more accurate form of accounting bad debt expenses.

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Is Accounts Receivable an Asset? | F&A Glossary (2024)

FAQs

Is accounts receivable considered an asset? ›

Put simply, accounts receivable counts as an asset because the amount owed to the company will be converted to cash later. More receivables = more cash, which leads to the growth of the business, over time.

What is accounts receivable equal to? ›

Accounts receivable are the funds that customers owe your company for products or services that have been invoiced. The total value of all accounts receivable is listed on the balance sheet as current assets and include invoices that clients owe for items or work performed for them on credit.

What is the vocabulary of accounts receivable? ›

Accounts Receivable is a term used to designate the money a company is owed from customers for delivered goods or services. An account receivable is made and recorded in the general ledger whenever a company allows a customer to instantly possess and acquire goods or services in exchange for a promise to pay (IOU).

How do you describe accounts receivable? ›

Accounts receivable refer to the money a company's customers owe for goods or services they have received but not yet paid for. For example, when customers purchase products on credit, the amount owed gets added to the accounts receivable. It's an obligation created through a business transaction.

What does accounts receivable classify as? ›

Accounts receivable are considered an asset in the business's accounting ledger because they can be converted to cash in the near term. Most businesses have accounts receivable. These are sales for which payment has not yet been received.

Is accounts receivable an asset in the accounting equation? ›

AR is considered an asset account, not a revenue account per accrual accounting principles. Accounts receivable does not exist as an entry within cash accounting methods since you will record revenue only when you receive cash.

What are accounts receivable also known as? ›

Definition of accounts receivables

In other words, it is the amount that your customer owes you in respect of contractual obligations. Accounts receivables are also known as debtor, trade debtors, bills receivable or trade receivables.

How do you recognize accounts receivable? ›

Accounts Receivable recognizes the amount owed from the customer, but not yet paid. Revenue recognition occurs because BWW provided the Jet Skis and completed the earnings process. Cost of Goods Sold increases (debit) and Merchandise Inventory decreases (credit) for $70,000, the expense associated with the sale.

How to solve accounts receivable? ›

Follow these steps to calculate accounts receivable:
  1. Add up all charges. You'll want to add up all the amounts that customers owe the company for products and services that the company has already delivered to the customer. ...
  2. Find the average. ...
  3. Calculate net credit sales. ...
  4. Divide net credit sales by average accounts receivable.
Mar 10, 2023

What is a fancy name for accounts receivable? ›

On this page you'll find 6 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to account receivable, such as: arrears, balance due, debt, bill, invoice, and receivable.

How to learn accounts receivable? ›

Start with a foundational education in finance or accounting. A bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, business administration, or a related field is highly beneficial. Courses in accounting principles, bookkeeping, and financial analysis will provide the core knowledge necessary for a career in Accounts Receivable.

What are the three types of accounts receivable? ›

Receivables can be classified into accounts/trade receivable, notes receivable, and other receivables.

What are the golden rules of accounting? ›

What are the Golden Rules of Accounting? 1) Debit what comes in - credit what goes out. 2) Credit the giver and Debit the Receiver. 3) Credit all income and debit all expenses.

Is account receivable an asset? ›

Accounts receivable is a current asset, so it measures a company's liquidity or ability to cover short-term obligations without additional cash flows.

What are AR terms? ›

Accounts receivable payment terms refer to the date by which the customer agrees to remit payment. The most common payment term is net30, which means the customer agrees to pay the full amount of the invoice within 30 days. The typical range for payment terms is a few days to up to a full year.

Is a bill receivable an asset or liability? ›

Bills receivable are assets to the company. Bills payable are liabilities to the company. It results in cash inflow.

Is accounts receivable a CR or DR? ›

Accounts receivable is money owed to a company by customers for goods or services delivered but not yet paid for. It's recorded as a debit entry in accounting as it increases assets.

Are accounts receivable good or bad? ›

Accounts Receivable-to-Sales Ratio

It indicates the percentage of a company's sales that are still unpaid. A high accounts receivable-to-sales ratio can indicate a risker company with a low quality of accounts receivable since it is not expected that all the accounts receivable will be collected.

How to balance accounts receivable? ›

What are the Steps of Accounts Receivable Reconciliation?
  1. Data Collection. It all begins by collecting the necessary data that needs to be reconciled. ...
  2. Data Comparison. Now comes the fun part. ...
  3. Investigation. If line items are not in order, it's necessary to perform some digging and find out what happened. ...
  4. Reporting.
Aug 28, 2023

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