Expenditure, the term 'expenditure' is not necess-arily confined to the money which has been actually paid out. It covers a liability which has accrued or which has been incurred although it may have to be discharged at a future date. However, a contingent liability which may have to be discharged in future cannot be considered as expenditure, Madras Industrial Investment Corpn. Ltd. v. CIT, (1997) 4 SCC 666: AIR 1997 SC 2063.
'Expenditure' is equal to 'expense' and 'expense is money laid out by calculation and intention though many uses of the word this element may not be present, as when we speak of a joke at another's expense. But the idea of 'spending in the sense of' paying out or away money is the primary meaning and it is with that meaning that we are concerned. 'Expenditure is thus what is 'paid out or away' and is something which is gone irretrievably, Indian Molasser Co. v. C.I.T., AIR 1959 SC 1049 (1058). [Income-tax Act, 1922, s. 10(2)(xv)]