Contra Account Definition + Journal Entry Examples

Profile Created

Profile Image

Organization Type

What We're Passionate About

Support Needed/Able to Give

Location

Bio

contra revenue account

A customer returned $100 worth of items, claiming them to be defective. The contra equity account treasury stock is reported right on the balance sheet. Home Depot has repurchased more than $72 billion of stock to date, with around $7 billion coming during this accounting period. 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. However, you will need to debit https://www.bookstime.com/articles/contra-revenue-accounts because they are the opposite of revenue accounts.

contra revenue account

If the amounts of these line items are minimal, they may be aggregated for reporting purposes into a single contra revenue line item. As you saw in the example, contra accounts can be an important part of your financial statement analysis, but they are hard to find. Companies bury them in the footnotes and often don’t break out the actual calculation. Still, it is important when possible to consider how the net accounts are calculated and be wary of companies that are reporting a ton of bad debts. The contra asset account Accumulated Depreciation is deducted from the related Capital Assets to present the net balance on the parent account in a company’s balance sheet.

Company

The sales discounts account contains the amount of sales discounts given to customers, which is usually a discount given in exchange for early payments by them. THINKING is involved when making journal entries—you have to analyze what is happening and translate the transaction into accounting language by selecting accounts to debit and credit. However, closing entries are the same three every time, so they should become relatively routine. A contra account can be referred to as a ledger account where the amount balance of an account is opposite to the normal balance of the main classification of account.

contra revenue account

A key example of contra liabilities include discount on notes or bonds payable. Contra liability accounts are not as popular as contra asset accounts. Contra revenue is a type of account in financial accounting that offsets the balance of a corresponding revenue account. Contra revenue accounts have a debit balance, which is the opposite of the typical credit balance found in revenue accounts.

Accounting for the Contrary

Once you earn the revenue, you can reduce your Unearned Rent Revenue account and increase your Rent Revenue account. Examples of deferred unearned revenue include prepaid subscriptions, rent, insurance or professional service fees. These accounts have to be closed at the end of the accounts period in the same way as the main Income Statement accounts are being closed. The accounting cycle involves numerous steps, yet many of them are simple copying and calculating—procedures that may be tedious, but not difficult.

contra revenue account

Contra liability accounts are less commonly used than contra asset accounts. Contra liability accounts are mainly used by corporations that issue bonds frequently. That is because some of the bonds are issued at a discount, so this reduces the balance of their bonds payable. When the amount recorded in the contra revenue accounts is subtracted from the amount of gross revenue, it equals the net revenue of a company.

Expense Contra Account

All three values can be useful for investors depending on what they’re looking for. A contra liability is a general ledger account with a debit balance that reduces the normal credit balance https://www.bookstime.com/ of a standard liability account to present the net value on a balance sheet. Examples of contra liabilities are Discounts on Bonds and Notes Payable and Short-Term Portion of Long-Term Debt.

  • Contra accounts provide more detailed information to financial statement users by showing both the gross and net amounts of the related accounts.
  • GAAP, the allowance for doubtful accounts represents management’s estimate of the percentage of “uncollectible” accounts receivable (i.e. the credit purchases from customers that are not expected to be paid).
  • Here is how you would make an entry in your books for a Dividend Revenue account.
  • This gives you more of an idea of whether your company is growing or declining since non-operating revenue is irregular.
  • The sales discounts account contains the amount of sales discounts given to customers, which is usually a discount given in exchange for early payments by them.
  • If the amounts of these line items are minimal, they may be aggregated for reporting purposes into a single contra revenue line item.

Let Us Help You Plan!