It is accepted accounting practice to indent credit transactions recorded within a journal. Debit cards and credit cards are creative terms used by the banking industry to market and identify each card.

Hence, contra accounts are not just meant for the purpose of reducing the value of the associated accounts, they are useful in tax preparation. It seems that another example of a contra account would be an expense account associated with a security deposit bookkeeping (eg. rental property). The interest owed on a security deposit would show as a debit in the expense account until the tenant moved and the account settled. at that time, cash is debited and the expense account credited for the interest owed/paid.

For example, if 3% of your sales were uncollectible, set aside 3% of your sales in your ADA account. Say you have a total of $70,000 in accounts receivable, your allowance for doubtful accounts would be $2,100 ($70,000 X 3%).

If a customer purchases from you but does not pay right away, you must increase your Accounts Receivable account to show the money that is owed to your business. Sales allowance and discounts is a contra account to the sales account. The process of using debits and credits creates a ledger format that resembles the letter “T”. The term “T-account” is accounting jargon for a “ledger account” and is often used when discussing bookkeeping.

Similarly, the landlord would enter a credit in the receivable account associated with the tenant and a debit for the bank account where the cheque is deposited. Owner’s/Stockholders’ equity retained earnings balance sheet will decrease—keeping the accounting equation and the balance sheet in balance. Liabilities are an element of the balance sheet along with assets and owner’s/stockholders’ equity.

Accounts Pertaining To The Five Accounting Elements

In other words, contra accounts are used to reduce normal accounts on the balance sheet. A contra equity account reduces the total number of outstanding shares listed on a company’s balance sheet. When a company buys back its own shares from the open market, it records the transaction by debiting the treasury stock account.

This is because the customer’s account is one of the utility’s accounts receivable, which are Assets to the utility because they represent money the utility can expect to receive from the customer in the future. If the credit is due to a bill payment, then the utility will add the money to its own cash account, which is a debit because the account is another Asset. Again, the customer views the credit as an increase in the customer’s own money and does not see the other side of the transaction. This use of the terms can be counter-intuitive to people unfamiliar with bookkeeping concepts, who may always think of a credit as an increase and a debit as a decrease. A depositor’s bank account is actually a Liability to the bank, because the bank legally owes the money to the depositor. 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.

Example Accumulated Depreciation

A good example of how this works is under Adjusting Entries Illustrated where there is an example of recording interest for land. When you actually pay the interest, you can debit bookkeeping interest payable and credit cash . Contra accounts are also called valuation allowances because they are used to adjust the carrying value of the related asset or liability.

Contra Liability Account

Contra accounts and the associated accounts are reported in dollar value. For example, an Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts is the contra account for accounts receivable which often offsets the balance of the account. An Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts is reported on a line directly below the accounts receivable in a company’s financial statements. 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.

As you can see the Expense account is properly keeping track of the expenses from depreciation while the Equipment asset is properly reflecting its value at year end. And these business bookkeeping contra asset accounts reach zero at close out because they are emptied out into their asset. Treasury stock and drawing accounts are examples of contra equity accounts.

All accounts must first be classified as one of the five types of accounts . To determine how to classify an account into one of the five elements, the definitions of the five account types must be fully understood. The definition of an asset according to IFRS is as follows, “An asset is a resource prepaid expenses controlled by the entity as a result of past events from which future economic benefits are expected to flow to the entity”. In simplistic terms, this means that Assets are accounts viewed as having a future value to the company (i.e. cash, accounts receivable, equipment, computers).

• So, essentially, all these situations are mistakes that people could make.
• 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.
• Not sure if this is all correct, I’m a student as well but I’m a little rusty.
• At the end of the quarter/term you would close out these contra asset accounts by canceling them out with their corresponding “asset” by Zero-ing out the Contra Asset account into the corresponding Asset account.
• A company can choose to state this information as separate line items on its balance sheet so that any financial planners or analysts can determine the extent to which a paired asset might be reduced.
• When a company evaluates its financial position, a financial analyst might calculate the total amounts that the company stores in its asset accounts.

Examples Of Contra Accounts

Liability accounts record debts or future obligations a business or entity owes to others. When one institution borrows from another for a period of time, the ledger of the borrowing institution categorises the argument under liability accounts.

The fixed asset account tracks the cost.The fixed asset account minus accumulated depreciation is used to calculate the book value. Contra Asset Account – A contra asset account is an asset that carries a credit balance and is used to decrease the balance of another asset on the balance. The two common contra liability accounts, discount on bonds payable and discount on notes payable, carry normal debit balances. The discount on bonds payable represents the difference between the amount of cash a company receives when issuing a bond and the value of the bond at maturity. Notes payable represents a liability created when a company signs a written agreement to borrow a specific amount of money. The lender may offer the company a discount if it repays the note early.

A contra account is a balance sheet account that is used to offset a related asset, liability, or equity account. Contra accounts are used to ensure the proper valuation of these items is reflected on the balance sheet. Accumulated depreciation has a credit balance because it’s used in combination with its related fixed asset account to calculate the net value of a building, vehicle, piece of equipment, or other fixed asset. With each debit to the depreciation expense account, a corresponding credit is created in the accumulated depreciation account.

The information recorded in these daybooks is then transferred to the general ledgers. Not every single transaction needs to be entered into a T-account; usually only the sum of the book transactions for the day is entered in the general ledger.

The Contra Equity Account

Contra accounts provide more detail to accounting figures and improve transparency in financial reporting. $100,000 – $5,000 (the 5% allowance for doubtful accounts) to equal a net receivable amount of $95,000. Learn accounting fundamentals and how to read financial statements with CFI’s free online accounting classes.

It offsets the balance of the related account, which means when the corresponding account is positive, a contra account will be negative. If your expenses occur faster than agreed upon prepayments, you could end up with a situation where a prepaid expense account could start carrying a credit balance. This could happen if, for example, you’re having worker’s comp insurance premiums go up after you’ve already made payment due to a workplace accident. There are many situations where one account is used to offset another account. One common example is accumulated amortisation, which is a contra-asset account.

Contra asset accounts aren’t the only way that asset accounts can carry a credit balance. Here’s a short list of some example contra asset accounts and their corresponding asset accounts. A contra account is used in order to better portray the relationship between certain debits and credits within the overall financial structure of an entity. A contra account can be used to remedy an error, to track depreciation of an asset, or to register payments that are not collectible.

If a debit is the natural balance recorded in the related account, the contra account records a credit. A machine purchased for $15,000 will show up on the balance sheet as Property, Plant and Equipment for $15,000. Over the years the machine decreases in value by the amount of depreciation expense. In the second year, the machine will show up on the balance sheet as $14,000.