Valuation principles for bad debts:
Generally, bad debt provisions need to be based on a prudent approach and assume the worst case if the situation of customer is not crystal clear. Any client overdue more than 90 days must be commented individually on the assessment sheet. The sheet must reconcile with the accounts receivable (trade and others) as per financial statements. The following base rules for provisioning doubtful debts applies:
1. 100% of the amount is to be provisioned for, if
- the customer is bankrupt (although bankrupcty procedure may not be finalized)
- the amount is older than 1 year from invoice date
- customer has informed in writing that payments are stopped for liquidity reasons
2. 50% of the amount is to be provisioned for, if:
- all amounts more than 90 days overdue counted from agreed payment date without an obvious reason such as e.g. no customer claim pending, etc.
Group factoring scheme
Companies included in Group’s Factoring scheme need to make sure the total “bad debt provision” reported in the assessment sheet matches the amount reported to PR by means of the monthly factoring sheet. Companies not included in the Factoring scheme need to make sure the total “bad debt provision” as per assessment sheet matches the reported figure in COGNOS line 11215.