When the direct writeoff method of recognizing bad debt expense is used the journal entry to write

What is the Direct Write Off Method?

The direct write off method involves charging bad debts to expense only when individual invoices have been identified as uncollectible. This method can be considered a reasonable accounting method if the amount that is written off is an immaterial amount, since doing so has minimal impact on an entity's reported financial results, and so would not skew the decisions of a person using the company's financial statements. This method is required for the reporting of taxable income in the United States, since the Internal Revenue Service believes (possibly correctly) that companies would otherwise be tempted to inflate their bad debt reserves in order to report a smaller amount of taxable income.

Accounting for the Direct Write-Off Method

The specific action used to write off an account receivable under this method with accounting software is to create a credit memo for the customer in question, which offsets the amount of the bad debt. Creating the credit memo creates a debit to a bad debt expense account and a credit to the accounts receivable account.

The method does not involve a reduction in the amount of recorded sales, only the increase of the bad debt expense. For example, a business records a sale on credit of $10,000, and records it with a debit to the accounts receivable account and a credit to the sales account. After two months, the customer is only able to pay $8,000 of the open balance, so the seller must write off $2,000. It does so with a $2,000 credit to the accounts receivable account and an offsetting debit to the bad debt expense account. Thus, the revenue amount remains the same, the remaining receivable is eliminated, and an expense is created in the amount of the bad debt.

Disadvantages of the Direct Write-Off Method

The direct write off approach violates the matching principle, under which all costs related to revenue are charged to expense in the same period in which you recognize the revenue, so that the financial results of an entity reveal the entire extent of a revenue-generating transaction in a single accounting period.

The direct write off method delays the recognition of expenses related to a revenue-generating transaction, and so is considered an excessively aggressive accounting method, since it delays some expense recognition, making a reporting entity appear more profitable in the short term than it really is. For example, a company may recognize $1 million in sales in one period, and then wait three or four months to collect all of the related accounts receivable, before finally charging some bad debts off to expense. This creates a lengthy delay between revenue recognition and the recognition of expenses that are directly related to that revenue. Thus, the profit in the initial month is overstated, while profit is understated in the month when the bad debts are finally charged to expense.

Direct Write-Off vs. Allowance Method

The alternative to the direct write off method is to create a provision for bad debts in the same period that you recognize revenue, which is based upon an estimate of what bad debts will be. This approach matches revenues with expenses, and so is considered the more acceptable accounting method.

Terms Similar to the Direct Write Off Method

The direct write off method is also known as the direct charge-off method.

A bad debt can be written off using either the direct write off method or the provision method. The first approach tends to delay recognition of the bad debt expense. It is necessary to write off a bad debt when the related customer invoice is considered to be uncollectible. Otherwise, a business will carry an inordinately high accounts receivable balance that overstates the amount of outstanding customer invoices that will eventually be converted into cash. There are two ways to account for a bad debt, which are noted below.

Direct Write Off Method

The seller can charge the amount of an invoice to the bad debt expense account when it is certain that the invoice will not be paid. The journal entry is a debit to the bad debt expense account and a credit to the accounts receivable account. It may also be necessary to reverse any related sales tax that was charged on the original invoice, which requires a debit to the sales taxes payable account.

Provision Method

The seller can charge the amount of the invoice to the allowance for doubtful accounts. The journal entry is a debit to the allowance for doubtful accounts and a credit to the accounts receivable account. Again, it may be necessary to debit the sales taxes payable account if sales taxes were charged on the original invoice.

Analysis of Bad Debt Write Off Methods

In either case, when a specific invoice is actually written off, this is done by creating a credit memo in the accounting software that specifically offsets the targeted invoice.

Of the two methods presented for writing off a bad debt, the preferred approach is the provision method. The reason is based on the timing of expense recognition. If you wait several months to write off a bad debt, as is common with the direct write off method, the bad debt expense recognition is delayed past the month in which the original sale was recorded. Thus, there is a mismatch between the recordation of revenue and the related bad debt expense. The provision method eliminates this timing problem by requiring the establishment of a reserve when sales are initially recorded, so that some bad debt expense is recognized at once, even if there is no certainty about exactly which invoices will later become bad debts.

What is the journal entry for recording bad debt written off?

When the direct write

When using the direct write

How are bad debts accounted for under the direct write