Overdue accounts receivable: reflected in accounting.

Accounts receivable is the sum of all payments due to an organization from other business entities or private individuals. The management of the organization, and in particular, the accounting department should closely monitor the state of settlements and try to timely claim even small debts so that unforeseen expenses do not damage the company's budget. If three years have passed since the beginning of the obligation (debt), and the debt has not been paid, there is an overdue accounts receivable.

Overdue accounts receivable must be written off because of the pointlessness of its further accounting on the accounts of settlements with buyers and customers. In order to write off the unreal debt, the head of the business entity must issue an order to organize an inventory of receivables. Then it is necessary to collect a package of documents confirming the existence of overdue debts and the impossibility of collecting it: primary documents, where the fact of the shipment of goods or the provision of services is recorded. In addition, acts of reconciliation with counterparty accounting data, financial claims, correspondence, court decisions (if any).

It is better to inventory accounts receivable as often as possible in order to track the validity of the existence of certain amounts in the accounts of accounting and avoid the appearance of overdue debts.

Write-off of overdue accounts receivable can be made in one of two ways: a provision for doubtful debts, or by referring to a financial result.

A reserve is a kind of guarantee that a legal entity organizes to itself as a result of an analysis of receivables at the end of the reporting period (year). If there is reason to doubt the integrity or solvency of the client, the head of the organization decides to make deductions to the above-mentioned fund, thus insuring against unforeseen situations with unauthorized money in the future, which may result in unrealistic overdue receivables.

Deductions in the provision for doubtful debts are included in the account 91 - "other expenses of the enterprise." The formation of such a reserve is reflected in the accounting records posting - dt 91, to-t 63. On 63 accounts, the accountant can open several analytical accounts - for convenience of keeping records for each doubtful debt separately. When the debt is written off, the bookkeeper records the decrease in the reserve for the amount of the debt to be debited: Dr 63, ct 62.

The ability to open a reserve for doubtful debts is available to organizations using the method of determining the taxable base "on shipment." In the accounting policy of the organization it is also necessary to indicate the availability of this reserve.

As we see, not every organization has the opportunity to create such a reserve. Therefore, cancellation of overdue debt can be directly attributed it to the financial result (reducing it by the amount of debt). Postings: d-t 91, to-t. 62. This posting shows the occurrence of the costs of the company because of writing off the amount of debt of an insolvent debtor. Then, according to d-tu 99 and to-that 91, the accountant shows a decrease in profit in connection with the above expenses.

After the write-off, the accounts of overdue receivables are maintained for five years on the off-balance sheet 007, where the indebtedness of insolvent counterparties is recorded, written-off at a loss. This is done to track the possibility of recovery.

It should be noted that organizations that apply the simplified taxation system and calculate the tax base under the formula "income minus expenses" are not entitled to assign to expenses that reduce the basis for taxation the expenses incurred in connection with the write-off of overdue debts.

Overdue receivables in the organization should arise extremely rarely or not arise at all, otherwise the main goal of the work of any organization - profit maximization - will not be achieved.