Companies typically offer customers a certain number of days, most often 30, to pay outstanding balances from purchases.

Companies must report the amount of open accounts receivable each month to stakeholders.

Accounts receivable is an asset for companies because it represents potential future cash collected for use by the company.

Accountants are responsible for calculating and reporting accounts receivable.

Post all transaction relating to accounts receivable up to the specified cutoff date.

Transactions include new receivables and payments received by customers.

Review the accounts receivable schedule to determine if any inaccuracies exist in accounts receivable accounts.

Remove all accounts receivable the company determines are uncollectable.

Debit bad debts expense and credit the corresponding accounts receivable.

Review the report one final time prior to declaring the ending balance for accounts receivable.

Report the final number from the report in Step 5 as the ending accounts receivable for the current period.

References Intermediate Accounting; David Spiceland, et al.; 2007 About the Author Kirk Thomason began writing in 2011.

In addition to years of corporate accounting experience, he teaches online accounting courses for two universities.

Thomason holds a Bachelor and Master of Science in accounting.

How To Get Accounts Receivable Amount Back In Customers Account With Quickbooks For Mac