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Contra Accounts Definition

What is a Contra Asset Account

The balance sheet is one of the three fundamental financial statements. The financial statements are key to both financial modeling https://expertrecorder.com/2020/06/08/which-one-is-better-whether-cpa-australia-or-cpa/1625554/ and accounting. Below is a general format for a statement of financial position report recommended for internal reporting purposes.

What is a Contra Asset Account

You can estimate based on experience, but you won’t know for sure until they actually pay. In accrual-basis accounting, recording the allowance for doubtful accounts at the same time as the sale improves the accuracy of financial reports. The projected bad debt expense is properly matched against the related sale, thereby providing a more accurate view of revenue and expenses for a specific period of time. In addition, this accounting process prevents the large swings in operating results when uncollectible accounts are written off directly as bad debt expenses.


The report for your organization would include more detailed line items in each category, but the objective would be to not exceed one page in length. Accounting for and reporting net assets in these more detailed categories for internal reports is valuable and recommended and gives a clearer picture of the organization’s actual financial position. Land is recognized at its historical cost, or the cost paid to purchase the land, along with any other related initial costs spent to put the land into use. Accumulated depreciation is a contra-asset account which is subtracted from asset accounts.

Related Terms

When a company evaluates its financial position, a financial analyst might calculate the total amounts that the company stores in its asset accounts. While financial information on these accounts might include receivables collected, the company can also choose to include its contra asset accounts as a separate line item on the balance sheet. Long-term liabilities are multi-year loans such as mortgages or other funds borrowed by the organization and payable over more than one year. Liabilities are a natural “credit balance” meaning that, in an accounting entry, a credit to a liability account will increase it.

Depending on the nature of the improvement, it is also possible that the asset’s useful life and salvage value may change as a result. The change in periodic depreciation expense also can be impacted by the method used to calculate depreciation and may also have federal income tax consequences. When an equipment is sold, the sale of the asset can trigger a gain or a loss, depending on the difference between the equipment’s net book value and its sale price.

Debit Cards And Credit Cards

Expense accounts are technically contra equity accounts because they are linked to another equity account, revenue, and maintain an opposite balance. The expense account uses its debit balance to reduce the contribution margin revenue account’s credit balance. A liability that is recorded as a debit balance is used to decrease the balance of a liability. Contra Liability a/c is not used as frequently as contra asset accounts.

A negative number in the liabilities section of a balance sheet is not normal and should be questioned and explained. The cost of interest incurred and/or paid is included as part of the historical cost of the asset under construction. No separate line item is needed on the balance sheet to disclose the interest costs associated with the asset. If any delays occur during the construction phase, the interest costs incurred during the delay are not capitalized. This interest cost is recorded as interest expense and reported as a period cost on the income statement rather than the balance sheet.


Likewise, separating the allowance for bad debt from accounts receivable lets you calculate the profitability of your sales team. Other examples of contra accounts deal with variables where the exact value is unknown. Sales discounts often depend on how fast your customers pay their bills.

What is a Contra Asset Account

The cost of the improvement is capitalized and added to the asset’s historical cost on the balance sheet. Since the cost of the improvement is capitalized, the asset’s periodic depreciation expense will be affected, along with other factors used in calculating depreciation. This type is paired with the asset account, which allows a business to record the original price or value of the asset at time of purchase. The contra asset account then allows recording of the value factoring in depreciation.

Boundless Accounting

Therefore, contra accounts are the reverse accounts that decrease a specific account’s balance. For example, if an account has a debit balance, a contra account will have a credit balance. Thus, netting off both will result in the final amount for the account. If you depreciated it evenly you would https://djkdud.blogspot.com/2021/06/netsuite-erp-modules-netsuite-erp.html take $20,000, divide it by 5 and expense $4,000 each year. On the balance sheet you would list the asset at $20,000 then show the $4,000 in accumulated depreciation being subtracted from it for a net value of $16,000. Accumulated depreciation is a contra account because it subtracts from the asset.

Are assets positive or negative?

Because Asset and Expense accounts maintain positive balances, they are positive, or debit accounts. Accounting books will say “Accounts that normally have a positive balance are increased with a Debit and decreased with a Credit.” Of course they are!

The following are several key reasons why it can be important to include contra asset accounts on a balance sheet. Obsolete inventory refers to a company’s products or goods that have become obsolete, or unusable, during routine use and operations. This type of contra asset account may generally be debited expenses, followed by a credit to the company’s contra asset account for recording unusable inventory. Similarly, What is a Contra Asset Account a business may also write off these types of expenses from its financial records if the inventory has been completely phased out. The contra asset account can also be combined with a current inventory account, allowing a financial analyst to determine the current market value of the company’s inventory. Asset or capital improvements are undertaken to enhance or improve a business asset that is in use.

Cost Of Land

If the sale of land results in a gain, the additional cash or value received in excess of historical cost will increase net income for the period. If the sale results in a loss and the business receives less than the land’s historical cost, the loss will reduce net income What is a Contra Asset Account for the period. In general, accounts receivable are converted into cash within the operating cycle. This is treated as loss during the period, also called bad debt expense. This loss is treated as an ordinary business expense and is deducted from the asset’s balance.

  • If at a future date a building is sold due to a business relocation or other reason, any gain or loss on the sale is based on the difference between the building’s net book value and the market sales price.
  • They wouldn’t know any of that if you just subtracted depreciation and recorded only the asset’s net value.
  • When bad debts are incurred, the allowance for doubtful debts would decrease and the accounts receivable would be reduced by that amount.
  • Contra asset accounts are prepared so that an asset’s gross value and deductions can be shown separately.

Thus, when the customer makes a deposit, the bank credits the account (increases the bank’s liability). At the same time, the bank adds the money to its own cash holdings account. Since accounting standards state that an asset should be carried at the net book value, contra asset account equipment is listed on the balance sheet at its historical cost amount. The cost is then reduced by accumulated depreciation to arrive at a net carrying value or net book value. A company is free to decide what depreciation method to use on the equipment.

The use of Allowance for Doubtful Accounts allows us to see in Accounts Receivable the total amount that the company has a right to collect from its credit customers. The credit balance in the account Allowance for Doubtful Accounts tells us how much of the debit balance in Accounts Receivable is unlikely to be collected. fixed assets Accumulated depreciation is an asset account with a credit balance known as a long-term contra asset account that is reported on the balance sheet under the heading Property, Plant and Equipment. The amount of a long-term asset’s cost that has been allocated, since the time that the asset was acquired.

Contra Asset Account

Emilie is a Certified Accountant and Banker with Master’s in Business and 15 years of experience in finance and accounting from corporates, financial services firms – and fast growing start-ups. Sage 50cloud is a feature-rich accounting platform with tools for sales tracking, reporting, invoicing and payment processing and vendor, customer and employee management. However, if you sell items that quickly become obsolete, such as consumable products with an expiration date or electronics that become quickly outdated, using the allowance for obsolete inventory is a must.

Contra accounts are shown in the financial statements below the paired accounts, although sometimes the balances of the two accounts are merged to a net amount for presentation purposes. The reserve for obsolete inventory is management’s guesstimate of how much of the inventory is spoiled or otherwise unusable. Long-Term Assets are parent accounts that contain the original acquisition cost of fixed assets.
