Bad Debts Expense Flashcards, test questions and answers
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What is Bad Debts Expense?
Bad debts expense is a type of business expense that occurs when a customer or client fails to pay their bill. This can occur for a variety of reasons, such as inability to pay due to financial hardship, or simply unwillingness on the part of the customer. In any case, bad debt write-offs are an unfortunate but necessary part of doing business. When bad debts are incurred, businesses must record them on their income statements as an expense that reduces total revenue and profits. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles requires businesses to use the allowance method when recognizing uncollectible accounts as expenses on their books. Under this method, businesses estimate how much they think they will not be able to collect from customers who have not paid and record it as an expense in their income statement. Recording bad debt expenses is important because it helps companies accurately reflect the true state of their financial standing by subtracting lost revenue from total sales. It also ensures accuracy when calculating taxable income by reducing taxable revenue with uncollectible amounts deducted from sales figures reported for tax purposes. Bad debts are unavoidable in certain industries where credit is extended to customers or clients who may be unable to meet payment obligations due to economic hardships or other unforeseen circumstances. Although these types of losses cannot be prevented completely, companies can take steps such as instituting credit checks and extending shorter payment terms in order to reduce their exposure to bad debt write-offs and protect profit margins from any future losses incurred through nonpayment by customers or clients.