An Introduction to the Direct Write-Off Method for Beginners

We are also told that the company is estimating bad debt, so this is clearly not a company that uses direct write-off. Therefore, we will be using Allowance for Doubtful Accounts and Bad Debt Expense. The percentage of sales method is based on the premise that the amount of bad debt is based on some measure of sales, either total sales or credit sales. Based on prior years, a company can reasonably estimate what percentage of the sales measure will not be collected. If a company takes a percentage of sales , the calculated amount is the amount of the related bad debt expense.

For example, based on previous https://intuit-payroll.org/, a company may expect that 3% of net sales are not collectible. If the total net sales for the period is $100,000, the company establishes an allowance for doubtful accounts for $3,000 while simultaneously reporting $3,000 in bad debt expense.

Increased Cash Flow – The Benefits of the Direct Write-Off Method

Bottom LineThe bottom line refers to the net earnings or profit a company generates from its business operations in a particular accounting period that appears at the end of the income statement. A company adopts strategies to reduce costs or raise income to improve its bottom line. If you’re a small business owner who doesn’t regularly deal with bad debt, the direct write-off method might be simpler. But the allowance method is more commonly preferred and often used by larger companies and businesses frequently handling receivables.

In addition, it’s important to note the change in the allowance from one year to the next. Because the allowance went relatively unchanged at $1.1 billion in both 2020 and 2021, the entry to bad debt expense would not have been material. However, the jump from $718 million in 2019 to $1.1 billion in 2022 would have resulted in a roughly $400 million bad debt expense to reconcile the allowance to its new estimate. The major problem with the direct write-off is the unpredictability of when the expense may occur.

Overview: What is the direct write-off method?

This can cause a difference between the company’s income and its costs, which makes it hard to measure the company’s financial performance accurately. The direct write-off method is generally less expensive to implement than other methods of accounting for bad debts, such as the Allowance Method. This is because the direct write-off method does not require businesses to estimate bad debt allowances or adjust their financial statements. The original journal entry for the transaction would involve a debit to accounts receivable, and a credit to sales revenue.

Rather than What Is The Direct Write Off Method? off bad debt as unpaid invoices come in, the amount is tallied up only at the end of the accounting year. Big businesses and companies that regularly deal with lots of receivables tend to use the allowance method for recording bad debt.

Business Operations

The main advantage of the Direct Write-off method is that it is straightforward to book and record in books of accounts. Companies only have to pass two journal entries for the amount of the customer’s bad debt. The percentage of sales method simply takes the total sales for the period and multiplies that number by a percentage.

This can make the company’s financial statements overstate how strong its finances are, which can lead to stakeholders and investors having too high of expectations. The direct write-off method is more realistic than other accounting methods for bad debts. By writing off a debt as soon as it is determined to be uncollectible, the company acknowledges that it will not be able to collect the debt and recognizes the loss. This gives a more accurate picture of the company’s finances and can help keep people from overstating how strong they are. The business would do this by recording a credit of $3000 to its accounts receivable account and recording a debit of $3000 to the account for bad debt expense. Generating a credit memo for the uncollectible debt will cause the bad debt expense account to be debited and the accounts receivable account to be credited. The allowance method follows GAAP matching principle since we estimate uncollectible accounts at the end of the year.

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts is where we store the nameless, faceless uncollectible amount. We know some accounts will go bad, but we do not have a name or face to attach to them. Once an uncollectible account has a name, we can reduce the nameless amount and decrease Accounts Receivable for the specific customer who is not going to pay. An example of this would be a business that has sales of $2 million and recognizes these in one accounting period. The direct write-off method is one of the easier ways to manage bad debt.

• It is considered a current asset of the business as the entity expects to receive it within one year.
• This lesson will cover the direct write-off method for accounting for uncollectable accounts.
• However, for most companies, the benefits of the allowance method make it the preferred method of accounting for bad debts.
• By far the easiest write-off method, the direct write-off method should only be used for occasional bad debt write-offs.
• Therefore, we will be using Allowance for Doubtful Accounts and Bad Debt Expense.
• The provision method estimates the amount of bad debt a company is likely to incur in a given period and records this estimate as a provision for bad debt.

While it’s not recommended for regular use, if your business seldom has bad debt, it can be a quick, convenient way to remove bad debt from your books. The contra asset account compilations are avoided if the direct write-off method is used.