Accounting 
for Sales

CHAPTER 
6
Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to
•	Recognize revenue items at the proper time on the income statement
•	Account for cash and credit sales
•	Compute and interpret sales returns and allowances, sales discounts, and bank credit card sales
•	Manage cash and explain its importance to the company
•	Estimate and interpret uncollectible accounts receivable balances
Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to
•	Assess the level of accounts receivable
•	Develop and explain internal control procedures
Recognition of Sales Revenue
•	Revenue recognition requires a two-pronged test:
–	Goods or services must be delivered to the customers ( the revenue must be earned)
–	Cash or an asset virtually assured of being converted into cash must be received (the revenue must be realized)
•	Most companies recognize revenue at the point of sale
Measurement of Sales Revenue
•	A $100 cash sale is recorded as:

•	A $100 credit sale is recorded as:
Merchandise Returns and Allowances
•	Gross sales are the initial revenues or asset inflows based on the initial sales price
•	Gross sales are decreased by the amount of the returns and allowances to calculate the net sales
•	A sales return occurs when a customer returns previously purchased merchandise
•	A sales allowance is a reduction of the original selling price
•	A contra account (Sales Returns and Allowances) combines both returns and allowances in a single account

Merchandise Returns and Allowances
•	Suppose The Disney Store has $900,000 of gross sales on credit and $80,000 of sales returns and allowances
•	The journal entries are:
Merchandise Returns and Allowances
•	The income statement would show:
Cash and Trade Discounts
•	Trade discounts offer one or more reductions to the gross selling price for a particular class of customers
•	The gross sales revenue recognized from a trade discount sale is the price received after deducting the discount
•	Companies set trade discount terms to be competitive in industries where such discounts are common or to encourage certain customer behavior
Cash and Trade Discounts
•	Cash discounts are rewards for prompt payment
Recording Charge 
Card Transactions
•	There are three major reasons that retailers accept credit cards:
–	To attract credit customers who would otherwise shop elsewhere
–	To get cash immediately instead of waiting for customers to pay in due course
–	To avoid the cost of tracking, billing and collecting customers’ accounts
•	Card companies’ service charges are typically from 1% to 4% of gross sales

Recording Charge 
Card Transactions
•	Suppose VISA charges a company a straight 3% of sales for its credit card services
•	Credit sales of $10,000 will result in cash of only $9,700 [$10,000 – (0.03 x $10,000)]
•	The journal entry is:

Accounting for Net Sales Revenue
•	A detailed income statement might contain multiple elements as follows:

•	Reports to shareholders typically omit details and show only net revenues
Cash
•	Many companies combine cash and cash equivalents on their balance sheets
•	Cash equivalents are highly liquid short-term investments that can easily and quickly be converted into cash. Examples include:
–	Time deposits
–	Commercial paper
–	90-day Treasury bills
•	Cash includes paper money and coins; money orders; and checks
Compensating Balances
•	Compensating balances are required minimum balances on deposit in a bank to compensate for providing loans
•	Compensating balances increase the effective interest rate that the borrower pays
•	Annual reports must disclose any significant compensating balances
Management of Cash
•	Cash management is important because
–	Although the cash balance may be small at any one time, the flow of cash can be enormous
–	Cash is the most liquid asset, and it is enticing to thieves and embezzlers
–	Adequate cash is essential to the smooth functioning of operations
–	Businesses should not hold excess cash because cash itself does not earn income
Management of Cash
•	The major internal control procedures set up to safeguard cash include the following:
–	Have different individuals receive cash than those who disburse cash
–	Have different individuals handle cash than those who access accounting records
–	Record and deposit cash receipts immediately
–	Make disbursements using serially numbered checks, and require proper authorization by someone other than the person writing the check
–	Reconcile bank accounts monthly
Credit Sales and Accounts Receivable
•	Most sales are on credit, which create Accounts Receivable
•	Credit sales create a new set of problems for measuring revenue and managing the company’s assets
•	Credit sales generate potential uncollectible accounts

Uncollectible Accounts
•	Granting credit entails both costs and benefits:
–	The main benefit is the boost in sales and profit that a company generates when it extends credit
–	The most significant cost is uncollectible accounts or bad debts—receivables that some credit customers are either unable or unwilling to pay
–	The cost of granting credit that arises from uncollectible accounts is called bad debts expense
Measurement of 
Uncollectible Accounts
•	Uncollectible accounts require special accounting procedures
•	There are two basic ways to record uncollectibles:
–	The specific write-off method
–	The allowance method
Specific Write-Off Method
•	The specific write-off method assumes that all sales are fully collectible until proved otherwise
•	When a company identifies a specific customer account as uncollectible, it reduces the Accounts Receivable
•	The journal entry for the write-off of a specific Account Receivable of $40,000 is:
Specific Write-Off Method
•	The specific write-off method fails to apply the matching principle of accrual accounting
•	Matching requires recognition of the bad debts expense at the same time as the related revenue
Allowance Method
•	The allowance method has two basic elements:
–	An estimate of the amounts that will ultimately be uncollectible and
–	A contra account, which contains the estimated uncollectible amount that is deducted from the total Accounts Receivable

Allowance Method
•	The contra account is called allowance for uncollectible accounts 
•	The contra account recognizes bad debts in general during the proper period before uncollectible accounts from specific individuals are identified in the following period
Allowance Method
•	Suppose Compuport
–	Knows from experience that it will not collect about 2% of sales
–	Has sales in 20X1 of $100,000
–	Estimates that 2% x $100,000 or $2,000 of the 20X1 sales will be uncollectible
–	Does not know on December 31, 20X1, which customers will fail to pay their accounts
•	Compuport can still acknowledge the $2,000 worth of bad debts in 20X1

Allowance Method
•	The journal entries are:
Allowance Method
•	The journal entry for the write-off of two customer accounts in 20X2 is:
Applying the Allowance Method 
Using a Percentage of Sales
•	Expressing the amount of bad debts as a percentage of total sales is known as the percentage of sales method
•	This approach directly calculates the bad debts expense that appears on the income statement
•	The previous example illustrates this approach

Applying the Allowance Method Using a Percentage of Accounts Receivable
•	The percentage of accounts receivable method estimates uncollectible accounts based on the historical relationship between uncollectibles to year-end gross accounts receivable—not sales
•	Additions to the allowance account are calculated to achieve a target ending balance

Applying the Allowance Method Using a Percentage of Accounts Receivable
•	Consider the historical experience in the following table:
Applying the Allowance Method Using a Percentage of Accounts Receivable
•	Assume the accounts receivable balance is $115,000 at the end of 20X7
•	The average percentage of accounts receivable not collected is applied to the 20X7 ending balance ($115,000 x 3.33%)
•	The adjusting journal entry is:
Applying the Allowance Method Using the Aging of Accounts Receivable
•	The aging of accounts receivable method directly incorporates the customers’ payment histories
•	As more time elapses after the sale, collection becomes less likely
•	The $115,000 balance in Accounts Receivable on December 31, 20X7, might be aged as shown on the next slide
Applying the Allowance Method Using the Aging of Accounts Receivable
Bad Debt Recoveries
•	When bad debt recoveries occur, the write-off is reversed and the collection is handled as a normal receipt on account
•	The following October journal entries reverse the February write-off of an individual account receivable
Assessing the Level of 
Accounts Receivable
•	One measure of the ability to control receivables is the accounts receivable turnover

•	Higher turnovers indicate that a company collects its receivables quickly
•	Lower turnovers indicate slower collection
Assessing the Level of 
Accounts Receivable
•	Suppose credit sales for Compuport in 20X8 were $1 million and beginning and ending accounts receivable were $115,000 and $112,000, respectively

Assessing the Level of 
Accounts Receivable
•	The days to collect accounts receivable, or average collection period, is calculated by dividing 365 by the accounts receivable turnover

•	There is significant variability in accounts receivable turnover levels among industries
Overview of Internal Control
•	Internal control is a system of checks and balances that protects company assets and ensures that management maintains accurate financial records.
•	Internal control refers to both administrative controls and accounting controls
Overview of Internal Control
•	Administrative controls include methods and procedures that facilitate management planning and control of operations.  Examples include:
–	Budgeting procedures
–	Reports on performance
–	Procedures for granting credit to customers

Overview of Internal Control
•	Accounting controls include the methods and procedures for authorizing transactions, safeguarding assets, and ensuring the accuracy of the financial records
•	Accounting controls should provide reasonable assurance concerning
–	Authorization – transactions are created in accordance with management’s intentions
–	Recording – transactions are authorized and accurately recorded

Overview of Internal Control
•	Accounting controls should provide reasonable assurance concerning
–	Safeguarding – restrictions on access to assets are appropriate
–	Reconciliation – records are verified with other independently kept records or confirmed by physical counts
–	Valuation – recorded amounts are periodically reviewed for impairment of values and necessary write-downs
–	Operational Efficiency – errors and fraud are prevented while promoting efficient actions
The Accounting System
•	The accounting system handles many repetitive transactions, which fall primarily into four categories:
–	Cash disbursements
–	Cash receipts
–	Purchase of goods and services, including employee payroll
–	Sales or other rendering of goods and services
The Accounting System
•	Well-designed and well-run accounting systems are positive contributions to organizations and the economy
•	For example, integrated inventory controls and ordering systems allow a computer to interact automatically with suppliers to generate orders and reduce delivery times
Checklist of Internal Control
•	The following is a checklist of internal controls that a manager might use to create or evaluate specific procedures for cash, purchases, sales, and payroll
–	Reliable personnel with clear responsibilities
–	Separation of duties
•	The person with custody of assets should not have access to the records of those assets
•	The same individual should not authorize payments and also sign the check in payment of the bill
Checklist of Internal Control
–	Proper authorization
•	Credit limits to customers
•	Approval of overtime
•	Approval of large expenditures for capital assets
–	Adequate documents
•	Companies use source documents to support the immediate, complete, and tamper-proof recording of data

Checklist of Internal Control
–	Proper procedures
•	Well designed routines permit specialization of effort, division of duties, and automatic checks on each step in the routine
–	Physical safeguards
•	Using safes, locks, guards, guard dogs, and special lighting
•	Limiting access to sensitive areas
–	Vacations and rotation of duties
•	Rotating employees and requiring them to take vacations

Checklist of Internal Control
–	Independent check
•	All phases of the system should undergo periodic  review by independent public accountants and internal auditors
–	Cost-benefit analysis
•	The cost of a control should not exceed its benefits
•	The goal of internal control is not total prevention of fraud, but the achievement of efficient operations and the minimization of temptation
Management’s Responsibility
•	Management bears the primary responsibility for a company’s financial statements
•	The audit committee oversees the
–	Internal accounting controls
–	Financial statements
–	Financial affairs of the corporation