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The Allowance for Doubtful Debts Account is necessary because: Group of answer choices uncollectable accounts that are written off must be accumulated in a separate account. management needs to accumulate all the credit losses over the years. a liability results when a credit sale is made. when recording uncollectable accounts expense, it is not possible to know which specific accounts will not be collected.

Question

The Allowance for Doubtful Debts Account is necessary because: Group of answer choices

uncollectable accounts that are written off must be accumulated in a separate account.

management needs to accumulate all the credit losses over the years.

a liability results when a credit sale is made.

when recording uncollectable accounts expense, it is not possible to know which specific accounts will not be collected.

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Solution

The Allowance for Doubtful Debts Account is necessary because when recording uncollectable accounts expense, it is not possible to know which specific accounts will not be collected.

Here's a step-by-step explanation:

  1. When a company makes a sale on credit, it does not receive cash immediately. Instead, it records an accounts receivable, which is an asset representing the amount of money the company expects to collect in the future.

  2. However, not all customers will pay their bills. Some may go bankrupt, some may dispute the bill, and others may simply refuse to pay. These are known as uncollectable accounts.

  3. Since it is not possible to know in advance which specific accounts will not be collected, companies use the Allowance for Doubtful Debts Account. This is a contra asset account (an account that offsets an associated account) that estimates the amount of the accounts receivable that is expected to become uncollectable.

  4. When the company later identifies specific uncollectable accounts, it writes them off against the Allowance for Doubtful Debts Account, reducing both

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Similar Questions

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When the account Allowance for Doubtful Accounts is used, writing off an uncollectible accounts receivable will:Multiple ChoiceReduce income.Reduce an expense.Not change income or total assets.Increase total assets.

If the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts has a credit balance prior to recording the adjusting entry for the current period's uncollectible accounts, then the ______.Multiple choice question.accountant must have made an error because the Allowance account should have a $0 balance just like the Bad Debt ExpenseBad Debt Expense on the income statement will be greater than the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts on the balance sheetamounts actually written off were greater than the estimated amount of uncollectiblesestimated amount of uncollectibles was greater than the amounts actually written off

Why is Allowance for Doubtful Accounts credited, instead of Accounts Receivable, when recording the adjusting entry for bad debts?Multiple choice question.Allowance for Doubtful Accounts is not credited; Accounts Receivable is credited when recording the adjusting entry for bad debts.Accounts Receivable consists of many customer accounts and thus cannot be credited unless it is known which specific customer is not going to pay.Allowance for Doubtful Accounts is credited because if Accounts Receivable were credited, the assets would be overstated.Allowance for Doubtful Accounts is credited because if Accounts Receivable were credited, the assets would be understated.

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