Recording Prepaid Expenses: Everything you need to know

Prepaid expenses play a crucial role in ensuring accurate financial reporting and planning. These represent payments made in advance for goods or services that will be received in the future. Understanding these expenses involves recognising their impact on both balance sheets and income statements. 

These allow businesses to enhance their financial transparency and strategic decision-making processes, thereby navigating the complexities of modern-day financial management with clarity and foresight. 

To understand the meaning of prepaid expenses and their impact on the balance sheet, read on.

What are Prepaid Expenses?

Simply put, these refer to the expenses made for products or services in advance. The company intends to use these products or services in the future. The following are the benefits that journal entry of prepaid expenses provide-

• Businesses often make prepayments to avail of discounts on recurring charges
• They relieve businesses from obligations of payment for future accounting
• This allows companies to record such expenses as assets
• As you can easily liquidate them, such expenses are also considered current expenses

Example of a Prepaid Expense

In business accounting, these are expenses you’ve paid for but haven’t quite used up yet. The following are examples that qualify for the same as per the definition of prepaid expenses-

• Rent

Companies may pay rent for upcoming months in advance to receive a discount from the landlord.

• Insurance

It includes the premium of policies that companies need to pay for the upcoming period. 

• Other Expenses

Other prepaid expenses may include advertising, bulk order of supplies, interest, salaries, taxes, and more. 

Also Read: 6 Ideas to Help Reduce your Expenses

Prepaid Expenses on the Balance Sheet

To understand their recording, you must know where they show up in a company’s financial statements. Here is how a company makes a journal entry of prepaid expenses-

• When companies prepay an expense, they appear as a prepaid asset on their balance sheet
• The company makes a simultaneous entry, reducing cash from the payment account by the same amount
• These expenses appear as current assets on the balance sheet unless you need to incur them after 12 months
• When the company incurs the expense, you need to record it during the period when you incur it on the company’s income statement

Importance of Managing Prepaid Expenses

Managing these expenses is crucial for businesses looking to maintain healthy finances. The following are the benefits of managing accounting entries for prepaid expenses-

• Never Miss a Product or Service

Paying for a product or service upfront allows companies to not miss out on availing them. This is because vendors become obligated to make a supply if you have paid for it first.

• Helps Manage Rising Costs

Prepaying for products or services also enables you to lock in their price, which generally fluctuates due to varying market conditions. This approach helps you in managing the increasing cost of these products and services without additional financial burden. 

• Provides Tax Advantage
  Companies can also enjoy reduced tax obligations by making upfront payments. While you cannot deduct the total expenses made upfront for the current financial year, you can defer some amount of the same for other account periods. They are recognised as tax assets to reduce your future taxable income.

Also Read: Income vs Expenses

By strategically managing prepaid expenses, you can optimise the cash flow of your business and potentially unlock cost savings. If you still need some help managing your finances, you can consider Fibe’s Instant Cash Loan of up to ₹5 lakhs. Fibe allows you to access funds with a hassle-free application process. Download our Personal Loan App or apply directly via our website with minimal paperwork. 

FAQs on What are Prepaid Expenses

Are prepaid expenses an asset or not?

This expenditure is considered an asset because of the following reasons-

• Prepaid expenses represent a future economic benefit to the company, as they have already paid for a good or service that they will receive later
• These have a value that companies can convert to cash within a year 

How to record a prepaid expense?

Understanding accounting entries for prepaid expenses is crucial for accurate financial reporting. Here is how it is recorded-

• When a company prepays for a product or a service, it is recognised as a prepaid asset on the balance sheet
• A simultaneous entry is recorded where the company’s cash is reduced
• Most of these expenses appear as current assets on the balance sheet

Are prepaid expenses a debit or credit?

These are considered assets and, therefore, follow the debit rule. It will be credited to the cash account from where the amount was drawn.  

How to audit prepaid expenses?

Check out the processes involved in auditing these expenses below-

• Document verification
• Classification of expenses
• Examination of internal controls
• Testing of these expenses
• Finding improvements

How to calculate the prepaid expenses formula?

The formula to compute this expenditure is-

Total Prepaid Amount / Number of Months in the Benefit Period