Bad Debt - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: bad debtbad debt expense
bad debt expense An expense account that reflects the amount of your company's accounts that are not collectable, that is the amount of your company's accounts that are "bad debts." A "bad debt expense" account is an expense account of your company. A typical company makes an estimate as to how much it has in bad debts on a periodic (usually monthly) basis. For example, your company estimates that it has about $1,200 per year in accounts that are not collectable. Your company would make the following accounting entries each month: a debit to your "bad debt expense" account in the amount of $100, and a credit to your "allowance for bad debts" account in the amount of $100. When you actually decide that a particular debt is not collectable, you would not make an entry to the "bad debt expense" account. Instead, you would debit your company's "allowance for bad debts" account for the amount of the bad debt and credit your accounts receivable account for that amount. ...
allowance for bad debts
allowance for bad debts Your best guess at how much of your accounts receivable will not be collectable. In other words, your best guess at how much of your accounts receivable will be "bad debts." An "allowance for bad debts" account is kind of like a savings account for bad debts. Your company puts money into it on a periodic basis (usually monthly) as an expense of the company. When you decide that a particular account is not collectable, you tap the allowance for bad debts account to pay for the bad debt. Because you already made the allowance for bad debts, your profit and loss statement will not be out of whack in the particular month that you decide to "write-off" a particular account. Your company's accounting entries to "write off" a $500 account that you have decided is not collectable would look something like this: a debit to your allowance for bad debts account in the amount of $500 and a credit to your accounts receivable account for $500. ...
Bad debt
Bad debt, means the debt which cannot be collected. An income tax deduction is allowed for bad debts, Webster's Dictionary of Law, Indian Edn., (2005), p. 41....
bad debt recovery
bad debt recovery An account that you "wrote-off" as not collectable, but that was later paid by the customer. When this happens, you must adjust your accounts. Your company's adjusting entries would look something like this: A debit to accounts receivable in the amount of $500 and a credit to allowance for bad debts in the amount of $500; and a debit to cash in the amount of $500 and a credit to accounts receivable in the amount of $500. ...
bad debt
bad debt see debt ...
debt
debt [Old French dette, ultimately from Latin debita, plural of debitum debt, from neuter of debitus, past participle of debere to owe] 1 : something owed: as a : a specific sum of money or a performance due another esp. by agreement (as a loan agreement) [to pay the s…of the United States "U.S. Constitution art. I"] [a for alimony] b : an obligation to pay or perform on another's claim [discharged the ] compare asset, equity NOTE: It is often up to the courts to decide what is or is not a debt under various laws. Courts disagree whether criminal restitution is a debt under the Bankruptcy Code. The historical practice of imprisoning debtors for nonpayment is no longer used. antecedent debt : debt that is incurred prior to a property transfer paying or securing the debt compare preference bad debt : a debt that cannot be collected NOTE: An income tax deduction is allowed for bad debts. consumer debt : debt that is incurred by an individual primarily for the purchase of ...
collection account
collection account an unpaid debt referred to a collection agency to collect on the bad debt. This type of account is reported to the credit bureau and will show on the borrower's credit report. Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ...
credit counseling
credit counseling education on how to improve bad credit and how to avoid having more debt than can be repaid. Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ...
credit repair companies
credit repair companies Private, for-profit businesses that claim to offer consumers credit and debt repayment difficulties assistance with their credit problems and a bad credit report. Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ...
bond
bond 1 a : a usually formal written agreement by which a person undertakes to perform a certain act (as appear in court or fulfill the obligations of a contract) or abstain from performing an act (as committing a crime) with the condition that failure to perform or abstain will obligate the person or often a surety to pay a sum of money or will result in the forfeiture of money put up by the person or surety ;also : the money put up NOTE: The purpose of a bond is to provide an incentive for the fulfillment of an obligation. It also provides reassurance that the obligation will be fulfilled and that compensation is available if it is not fulfilled. In most cases a surety is involved, and the bond makes the surety responsible for the consequences of the obligated person's behavior. Some bonds, such as fidelity bonds, function as insurance agreements, in which the surety promises to pay for financial loss caused by the bad behavior of an obligated person or by some contingency over w...
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