Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Doubtful Accounts
• An expense account representing receivable accounts that, for some reasons, have become
doubtful of collection or worthless as of a given balance sheet date.
• A contra-account of Accounts Receivable which represents accumulated amount that has been
provided for anticipated losses on uncollectible accounts.
Notes:
• e practice of providing for probable losses is governed by two GAAPs: Matching Principle and
Conservatism.
Allowance Method
Percentage-of-Receivables Approach
• is approach provides a reasonably accurate estimate of the realizable value of receivables.
• is is also called Statement of Financial Position Approach because the basis of computation is
Accounts Receivable.
• It takes into account the previous balance of the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts.
Formula in Computing the Estimated Loss on Accounts (Doubtful Accounts)
• Outstanding customer accounts are classified or grouped according to maturity dates and
accounts which are past due for a longer period are assigned higher estimated loss rates.