Question

Difficulty: MediumBad Debts Written Off and Bad Debts Recovered

Kalu Enterprises received cash of 25,000\text{₦}25,000 from a customer whose account was previously written off as a bad debt in the preceding financial year. Complete the statement below regarding the double-entry bookkeeping procedure required to reinstate the customer's account before recording the cash receipt.

Answer:To reinstate the customer's account, the bookkeeper must debit the 【Trade Debtors】 account and credit the 【Bad Debts Recovered】 account.

Answer

To reinstate the customer's account prior to recording cash collection, the Trade Debtors (or Personal) account is debited and the Bad Debts Recovered account is credited.
When a debt previously written off is recovered, proper double-entry accounting mandates a two-stage process. First, the debtor's account is reinstated by debiting the Trade Debtors (or customer's personal) account and crediting the Bad Debts Recovered account. Second, the cash receipt is recorded by debiting Cash/Bank and crediting Trade Debtors.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the purpose of reinstating a written-off bad debt
The debtor's personal ledger account needs to show that the previously written-off debt has now been honored.
Reinstating the account restores the debt balance temporarily so that the subsequent cash settlement can be properly posted against the customer's personal record.
2
Determine the debit entry for account reinstatement
Debit the Trade Debtors / Personal account of the customer.
Debiting the Trade Debtors account re-establishes the claim against the debtor in the accounting records.
3
Determine the credit entry for account reinstatement
Credit the Bad Debts Recovered account.
Crediting the Bad Debts Recovered account recognizes the income gained from recovering a debt that was formerly treated as an expense.

Key Concept

Bookkeeping entries for bad debts recovered
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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