Definition
Accounts receivable (AR) is a current asset on the balance sheet representing money customers owe to the business for goods or services delivered but not yet paid for. It is the bookkeeping mirror of accounts payable: AP is money the business owes; AR is money owed to the business. Typical settlement is within 7 to 60 days according to the invoice terms agreed with each customer.
What accounts receivable means in practice
For most SMBs, AR is the bridge between sale and cash. The business raises an invoice, which posts to AR and to sales revenue. The invoice goes to the customer with payment terms (commonly Net 7, Net 14, Net 30, Net 60, or due-on-receipt). When the customer pays, the bank deposit reconciles against the open AR entry, clearing the receivable and increasing cash. Until that happens, the receivable sits as an asset and contributes to working capital.
The complication is that not every invoice gets paid. The AR ageing report is the standard credit-control tool: invoices are bucketed by overdue period (current, 1-30 days, 31-60, 61-90, 90+) so the bookkeeper can prioritise chasing. Persistently aged invoices either get chased to payment or written off as bad debts. Bad-debt write-off has tax consequences: the VAT or GST already paid on the invoice can usually be recovered, subject to jurisdiction-specific rules.
A practical example: an AU consultancy invoices a client AUD 22,000 inclusive of GST on 1 October with Net 30 terms. The invoice posts to AR (debit) and to sales revenue plus output GST (credits). On 28 October the client pays. The bank reconciliation matches the AUD 22,000 against the open invoice, clearing AR and increasing the bank balance. If the client had not paid and the receivable was still open after 12 months, the bookkeeper would write off the AUD 22,000 as a bad debt and adjust the AUD 2,000 GST already paid down on the next BAS.
How accounts receivable works by country
United Kingdom
Output VAT is recognised at the tax point, which is usually the date of the tax invoice or the earlier of any payment received. For VAT-registered businesses on the cash accounting scheme (turnover under 1.35 million), VAT is accounted for when payment is received rather than when invoiced. Bad-debt relief lets the business reclaim VAT on receivables that are at least six months past due and have been written off in the books.
Australia
GST is recognised at the invoice date for accruals-basis taxpayers (most businesses above AUD 10 million turnover) and at the payment date for cash-basis taxpayers below that. Bad-debt write-off allows a GST adjustment when the debt is more than 12 months overdue or has been formally written off in the books. The adjustment is reported on the next BAS in label 7 (decreasing adjustments).
Canada
GST/HST is generally recognised at the earlier of invoice date or payment date. Bad-debt adjustment is available once the receivable is written off in the books for accounting purposes; CRA Form GST488 documents the adjustment on the GST/HST return. The associated supply must have been included in net tax in an earlier period.
New Zealand
GST is on the invoice basis (mandatory for businesses with turnover above NZD 2 million) or the payments basis (available below). Bad-debt adjustment is allowed when the debt is written off as bad in the books and the underlying supply was made more than six months earlier. The adjustment reduces output GST on the next return.
Singapore
GST is on the invoice basis only; there is no cash-basis option. Bad-debt relief is available where the debt is at least 12 months overdue, written off in the books, and the customer is in liquidation or insolvency proceedings. IRAS requires detailed supporting documentation: the original invoice, evidence of collection efforts, and the insolvency notice.
Related terms
Accounts receivable is the asset side of the trade cycle:
- Accounts payable is the mirror: money owed to suppliers.
- Trade receivables is the strict subset of AR for the business’s primary trading activity.
- An invoice is the document that creates the AR entry; a tax invoice carries the additional fields needed to support the customer’s input tax claim.
- The mechanism for posting an invoice is a journal entry.
- The AR control account is reconciled at period end as part of reconciliation work.
See also
For the practical mechanics of recording sales invoices in Xero or QuickBooks see the per-software workflow guides as they ship.
FAQ
See the answered questions above for AR vs trade receivables, the role of ageing reports, and bad-debt write-off triggers.