Accounts Receivable

I. Formal Definition

Amounts owed to an organisation by its customers for goods or services delivered but not yet collected in cash, presented on the balance sheet as a current asset. Accounts receivable is the dominant working capital component for most product and service businesses. The federation requires receivables to be aged and reported by ageing bucket, with the allowance for credit losses computed using a documented model and reconciled to the bad debt expense in the P&L under UFMS-001:5.1. Receivables collateralising any financing arrangement are footnoted.

II. Etymology

A standard term of double entry accounting; the construction stabilised in English commercial usage in the eighteenth century with the rise of credit-extended trade.

III. Federation Usage

Federation members publish receivables ageing and the allowance for credit losses with documented model. Receivables collateralising financing are footnoted under MEV-Annex:6.1. Days sales outstanding is a quarterly metric in the working capital review.

IV. Related Terms

• accounts-payable
• cash-conversion-cycle
• deferred-revenue
• accrued-revenue

V. Authoritative Citations

• UFMS-001:5.1UFMS Article V - Receivables
• MEV-Annex:6.1MEV Annex VI - AR Reporting

VI. Citation in BibTeX

@misc{ifo4_glossary_accounts_receivable,
  title        = {{Accounts Receivable}},
  author       = {{IFO4 Federation Editorial Board}},
  howpublished = {{IFO4 Federation Glossary, slug \texttt{accounts-receivable}}},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://ifo4.org/glossary/accounts-receivable},
  note         = {Category: Accounting; key: AccountsReceivable}
}

VII. Challenge This Definition

Federation members and accredited practitioners may challenge any entry under TGS-002:1.7. Filed challenges are routed to the editorial board, triaged into the revision register, and resolved in writing on the public docket. The slug remains stable through any revision.