A business had previously written off a bad debt of 2,000 using the allowance method for bad debts, but has now managed to make a bad debt recovery and has received 900 in part payment of the account.
As the business uses the allowance method, the journal entry to record the bad debt recovery is done in two steps as follows:
Step 1: Reinstate the Accounts Receivable Balance
In order to account for the bad debt recovery, it is first necessary to reinstate the accounts receivable balance for the amount received. The accounting records will show the following bookkeeping entries for the bad debt recovery.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts receivable | 900 | |
| Allowance for doubtful accounts | 900 | |
| Total | 900 | 900 |
Bad Debt Recovery Bookkeeping Entries Explained
Debit
The debit entry reinstates the debt previously written off to accounts receivable.
Credit
The credit entry increases the allowance for doubtful accounts as the amount previously utilized to write of the bad debt is no longer needed.
The Accounting Equation
The Accounting Equation, Assets = Liabilities + Owners Equity means that the total assets of the business are always equal to the total liabilities plus the owners equity of the business. This is true at any time and applies to each transaction. For this transaction the Accounting equation is shown in the following table.
In this case an asset (accounts receivable) has been increased by the debit entry, and a contra asset account (allowance for doubtful accounts), is also increased by the corresponding credit entry.
If should be noted that the effect of these two entries is to increase an asset account and a contra asset account by equal amounts. As a result of this, the value of the net accounts receivable in the balance sheet does not change.
Step 2: Record the Cash Received
Having reinstated the accounts receivable balance in step 1, the cash received is now used to clear the balance. The accounting records will show the following bookkeeping entries for the bad debt recovery.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | 900 | |
| Accounts receivable | 900 | |
| Total | 900 | 900 |
Bad Debt Recovery Bookkeeping Entries Explained
Debit
The debit entry records the cash received from the customer.
Credit
The credit entry clears the accounts receivable balance
The Accounting Equation
The Accounting Equation, Assets = Liabilities + Owners Equity means that the total assets of the business are always equal to the total liabilities plus the owners equity of the business. This is true at any time and applies to each transaction. For this transaction the Accounting equation is shown in the following table.
In this case an asset (cash) has been has been increased by the debit entry, and another asset (accounts receivable) has been decreased by the corresponding credit entry.
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About the Author
Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a BSc from Loughborough University.