Accounts receivable or AR is the amount of money you owe to an organization for the products or services used or delivered but not the amount that is yet to be paid by the organization’s customers.
Accounts receivables are stated on the record of the balance sheet of the company as one kind of current asset. AR can be any amount of money that is owed by the customers for the purchases which are made on credit and also is related to the accounts payable services.
A company needs the proper estimate of the amounts in part known as the Account Receivable that cannot be collected mostly. This specific amount will be suggested as one kind of credit balance in the special accounts, which is one kind of contra-receivable account. This balance will eventually reduce the amount of the receivable account on the balance sheet.
Important Points Regarding Accounts Receivable
- Accounts receivables are made when a company allows a buyer to purchase their products or services on credit.
- Accounts receivable, or AR is one kind of asset account stated on the balance sheet of the company that can represent the money owed to a company in the short term.
- The power of the AR of a company can be easily analyzed with the turnover ratio of accounts receivable or the day’s sales outstanding.
- The term known as the accounts payable services are similar to the term accounts receivable, but instead of the money that needs to be received, it’s the amount of money that is owed.
- An analysis turnover ratio can be easily completed to get an expectation of the time when the AR will be received.
Accounts Receivables vs. the Accounts Payable Services
When a company owes a debt to its partner or the suppliers, these are known as the accounts payable or accounts payable services. Accounts payable are, in a way, the complete opposite of the term known as the accounts receivable.
Advantages of the Accounts Receivable
- The accounts receivable is a very important part of the fundamental analysis of businesses. Accounts receivable is also a current asset that can easily measure the liquidity of a company or the ability for covering its obligations which are short-term without any extra flow of cash.
- The analysis of the day’s sales outstanding will be able to measure the average time it may be taken by a company to collect all the balance that is receivable within a specific period.
The Payments Through Credit Card
The payment through a credit card is technically a receivable amount to a company as it takes one or two days to pay into the accounts of the companies. As soon as the paid money has been successfully received, it will not be regarded as a receivable amount anymore.
The Generation Cash From Receivables
Account receivables are one type of current asset for a specific company. A company can easily ask a bank to offer them some help with a loan and make use of those account receivables as their security. Many companies are able to follow this specific practice to ensure the required liquidity.
Example of AR
We can take the example of an electric supply organization that owes bills to its clients after offering them the required electricity. The organization keeps a record of an account receivable for those invoices which are not paid as it waits for the payments of the customers.
Therefore, both the terms are known as accounts receivables and the accounts payable services are very important parts of any company.