If a customer has been invoiced a total of 5,000 for goods and the business has decided that there is doubt as to whether the customer can pay in full. Consequently they have decided to make an allowance for doubtful accounts of 500 against the accounts receivable balance.
The original invoice would have been posted to the accounts receivable control account, so the balance on the customers account before the allowance for doubtful accounts is 5,000. Accordingly an allowance for doubtful receivables accounts is recorded in the bookkeeping records as follows:
Journal Entry for the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts
The accounting records will show the following bookkeeping entries for the bad debt expense.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Bad debt expense | 500 | |
| Allowance for doubtful accounts | 500 | |
| Total | 500 | 500 |
Allowance for Doubtful Accounts Bookkeeping Entries Explained
Debit
Firstly the allowance for doubtful receivables is an expense for the business and a charge is made to the income statement through the bad debt expense account.
Credit
Secondly the amount owed by the customer is still 5,000 and must remain on the accounts receivable control account. Â Consequently the credit in the journal above is placed on the allowance for doubtful receivables account in the balance sheet to reflect the uncertainty over payment.
The Accounting Equation
Additionally the Accounting Equation, Assets = Liabilities + Owners Equity means that the total assets of the business are always equal to the total liabilities plus the total equity of the business. Furthermore 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 the allowance for doubtful receivables account, which is a contra asset account, is increased by the credit entry. In addition, the income statement has been charged with the bad debt expense, reducing the owners equity.
Note: The expense in the income statement reduces the net income which reduces the retained earnings and therefore the owners equity in the business.
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Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Double Entry Bookkeeping. 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 degree from Loughborough University.