Prepaid expenses are those expenses that have not been expired yet but their payment has already made in advance. There are many examples of prepaid expenses such as rent paid in advance, interest paid in advance, unexpired insurance You might be wondering what kind of account it is? As the name sugRead more
Prepaid expenses are those expenses that have not been expired yet but their payment has already made in advance. There are many examples of prepaid expenses such as rent paid in advance, interest paid in advance, unexpired insurance
You might be wondering what kind of account it is? As the name suggests it should be an expense but actually it’s an asset. When we initially record prepaid expenses we consider them as current assets and show them in the balance sheet. It turns out to be an expense when we use the service/item for what we have paid for in advance.
The entry for the above explanation is as follows:
From the modern rule, we know Assets and expenses increased are debits while decrease in assets and expenses are credit.
As this is asset, increase in asset therefore we debit prepaid expense and on the other hand we pay cash/ bank on behalf of that asset in advance hence there is decrease in assets hence credited. The entry will be as follows:
| Prepaid Expense A/c                                                 …….Dr | XXX | |
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â To Cash/ Bank | XXX |
when this prepaid expense actually becomes expense we pass the adjusting entry. The entry will be as follows:
| Expense A/c                                                              …….Dr | XXX | |
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â To Prepaid expense | XXX |
Let me give you simple example of the above entry.
Suppose you pay advance rent of Rs 9,000 for six months for the space you haven’t used yet. So you need to record this as prepaid expense and show it on the asset side of the balance sheet under current assets. Since you paid for the same the entry would be as follows:
| Prepaid Rent A/c                                                 …….Dr | 9,000 | |
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â To Cash/ Bank | 9,000 |
As each month passes we will adjust the rent with prepaid rent account. Since the rent was advanced for 6 months, therefore (9,000/6) Rs 1500 will be adjusted each month with the rent expense account. The adjustment entry will be:
| Rent A/c                                                              …….Dr | 1,500 | |
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â To Prepaid rent | 1,500 |
The process is repeated until the rent is used and asset account becomes nil.
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Debtors are treated as an asset. A debtor is a person or an entity who owes an amount to an enterprise against credit sales of goods and/or services rendered. When goods are sold to a person on credit that person is called a debtor because he owes that much amount to the enterprise. Debtors are consRead more
Debtors are treated as an asset.
A debtor is a person or an entity who owes an amount to an enterprise against credit sales of goods and/or services rendered.
When goods are sold to a person on credit that person is called a debtor because he owes that much amount to the enterprise.
Debtors are considered assets in the balance sheet and are shown under the head of current assets.
For example – Ram Sold goods to Sam on credit, Sam did not pay for the goods immediately, so here Sam is the debtor for Ram because he owes the amount to Ram. This amount will be payable at a later date.
Liabilities Vs Assets
Liabilities
It means the amount owed (payable) by the business. Liability towards the owners ( proprietor or partners ) of the business is termed internal liability. For example, owner’s capital, etc
On the other hand, liability towards outsiders, i.e., other than owners ( proprietors or partners ) is termed as an external liability.
For example creditors, bank overdrafts, etc.
Assets
An asset is a resource owned or controlled by a company. The benefit from the asset will accrue to the business in current and future periods. In other words, it’s something that a company owns or controls and can use to generate profits today and in the future.
For example – machinery, building, etc.
Current assets are defined as cash and other assets that are expected to be converted into cash or consumed in the production of goods or rendering of services in the normal course of business. They are readily realizable into cash.
In other words, we can say that the expected realization period of current assets is less than the operating cycle period.
For example, goods are purchased with the purpose to resell and earn a profit, debtors exist to convert them into cash i.e., receive the amount from them, bills receivable exist again for receiving cash against it, etc.
Why debtors are treated as assets?
Now let me explain to you why debtors are treated as assets and not as liabilities because of the following characteristics :
Conclusion
Now after the above discussion, I can conclude that debtors are considered to be an asset and not a liability.
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