本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛One is to record the invoice by debiting the accrual. This seems to follow natually from the accounting theory and is readily understandble by someone without pratical experience. The other is to record the invoice to whatever expense account it should have been recorded. And then, to avoid double entry, the orginal accrual is reversed. The second way is preferable in practice because: (1) You don't need to inform A/P which accrual account s/he should record the invoice to. As the A/P function is typically separated from the G/L function except for very small companies, the A/P does not need to know whether any accrual has been provided for any invoice. S/he just records any invoice to the usual expense account in the period the invoice is received. (2) You don't need to reconcile one more account. The accrual is based on estimate and may or may not match the exact invoice. So there is always a difference in the accrual account, and you will have to periodically reconcile it and clean up the minor difference.
To illustrate how this reveral works, here is another example with payroll. Unpaid payroll expenses for the current period are usually accured at the end of the period by debiting payroll expense and setting up a payroll accrual. When the payroll staff runs the payroll in the next period, it simply credit cash and debit the payroll expense account regardless whether the pay belongs to the previous or the current period. Accordingly, the accrual needs to be reversed. Otherwise, the payroll expenses will be overstated because of the double dipping.更多精彩文章及讨论,请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
To illustrate how this reveral works, here is another example with payroll. Unpaid payroll expenses for the current period are usually accured at the end of the period by debiting payroll expense and setting up a payroll accrual. When the payroll staff runs the payroll in the next period, it simply credit cash and debit the payroll expense account regardless whether the pay belongs to the previous or the current period. Accordingly, the accrual needs to be reversed. Otherwise, the payroll expenses will be overstated because of the double dipping.更多精彩文章及讨论,请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net