Accounting for Doubtful Debts
Allowance for doubtful debts is created by forming a credit balance which is netted off against the total receivables appearing in the balance sheet. A corresponding debit entry is recorded to account for the expense of the potential loss. Accounting entry to record the allowance for receivable is as follows:
Debit Allowance for Doubtful Debts (Expense)
Credit Allowance for Doubtful Debts (Balance Sheet)
Once an allowance for doubtful debts has been created, only the movement in the allowance will need to be charged to the income statement in future accounting period. So if estimated allowance for doubtful debt is same as last accounting period, no accounting entry will be required in the current period as the total receivables will be reduced by the amount of allowance which has already been created.
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