ESTADOS DE CAMBIOS EN EL PATRIMONIO NETO
9. Saldos y transacciones con entidades relacionadas
One of the topics that causes students difficulty is discounts. ‘Cash discount’ is a rather misleading term: it is really an allowance given to encourage payment within a certain period of time. Understanding what cash discount means is the key to solving at least part of the students’ difficulty. A debtor is entitled to a cash discount only when the payment condition is met.
Topic summary
● The significance of cash discount
● Account entries in respect of cash discount
● Preparing the 3-column Cash Book, including entries for discounts, and posting discount totals to the General Ledger
Extended Syllabus references
8.2 Use of the 3-column Cash Book (the bank columns recording the Bank Current Account only)
8.3 The posting of individual transactions from the Cash Book to the ledger
8.5 The differences in book-keeping entries regarding the withdrawal of funds from the bank, as between:
8.5.1 that for use in the business – a contra entry 8.5.2 that for private use – drawings
8.8 Cash discount as part of the terms of sale
8.9 The impact of cash discount upon the seller (discount allowed) and the buyer (discount received) respectively
8.10 The double-entry effect of discount allowed and discount received respectively 8.11 The purpose and use of discount columns in the Cash Book
8.18 The periodic posting of discount-column totals from the Cash Book to the Discount Allowed and Discount Received Accounts in the General Ledger
Step 1
1 Discuss the purpose of cash discount. Explain that its purpose is to induce prompt or early payment by a customer who has been sold goods on credit. By receiving payment early, the seller is able to use the money to purchase and then sell more goods. Cash discount, as part of the seller’s ‘terms of sale’, also serves to attract the would-be purchaser.The terms of sale might state, for example, that:
● a period of credit of one month is allowed;
● if payment is made within 10 days of buying the goods, a cash discount of 2% will be allowed.
2 Explain that the term ‘cash discount’ is misleading; it is an allowance given to encourage the purchaser to pay an account within a certain period of time. The allowance is calculated as a percentage (%) of the price of the goods. For example, if the price of the goods is £250 and the cash discount for payment within 10 days is 2%, then:
£
Amount of cash discount: 250 x 2/100 = £5 Net amount to be paid 245
3 Stress that the buyer of goods (on credit) is not automatically entitled to a cash discount.
It is conditional, although it may be part of the terms of sale, ie the buyer has to meet certain conditions to receive the discount. For example, he or she must:
(a) pay by a certain date (10 days after the date of sale, in the example above)
(b) pay in a duly acceptable form (eg in cash or with a cheque drawn on a reputable bank).
It is the first of these two conditions with which students will be concerned. If, in the example above, the purchaser pays the account 13 days after the date of purchase, then he or she foregoes any entitlement to cash discount and must pay the full list price, ie £250.
4 Copy and hand out, or display on the overhead projector, the simple examples below.
Ask the students to work through them.
Example (a)
On 3 June Year 6, X sells goods on credit to Y for £480. The terms of sale allow a period of credit of one month but, if payment is made within 7 days of purchase, a cash discount of 21/2% will be allowed. Y pays the account on 8 June Year 6. Y is entitled to the cash discount because he or she has paid the account within the conditional 7-day period.
Cash Book: 3 columns – cash discount
Aim: to appreciate the significance of cash discount
Cash Book: 3 columns – cash discount
Example (b)
On 7 August Year 6, A sells goods on credit to B for £350. The terms of sale allow a period of credit of one month but, if payment is made within 14 days of purchase, a cash discount of 21/2% will be allowed. B pays the account on 5 September Year 6.
B settles the account after a lapse of more than 14 days, foregoing entitlement to the cash discount. He or she has to pay the full list price of £350. However, B has taken advantage of most of the period of credit, which expires on 7 September Year 6.
In Example (a), for X, the seller/creditor, the discount is described as ‘discount allowed’;
for Y, the purchaser/debtor, the discount is described as ‘discount received’. This situation can be illustrated thus:
Firms, as both buyers and sellers of goods, can be both ‘allowers’ and ‘receivers’ of cash discount.
5 Make it clear to the students that the term ‘cash’ covers payments in actual cash, and through the banking system.
Step 2
1 Discount allowed
Remind the students that discount allowed represents discount from the seller’s viewpoint. Illustrate discount allowed with the example below.
Example
On 1 July Year 3, L Green owes A Brown, a trader, £100. The terms of sale allows a 21/2% discount for payment within 14 days. L Green meets this condition and so pays
£100 less the £2.50 discount = £97.50
£
Selling price 480
less 21/2% cash discount 12
Payment made 468
Sale of goods on credit debtor discount allowed
Purchase of goods on credit creditor discount received
Aim: to be able to make account entries in respect of cash discount
In account terms, the transaction would appear as follows:
Transaction effect Book-keeping action (a) Cash + £97.50 Debit Cash Account
Debtor: L Green - £97.50 Credit L Green
(b) Discount allowed + £2.50 Debit discount allowed Debtor: L Green - £2.50 Credit L Green
Point out that Discount Allowed is an expense account of A Brown and is kept in the General Ledger. It also represents a ‘holding’ account, which holds the balance of the discount allowed until it is transferred to the Profit & Loss Account at the end of the period.
Illustrate the account on the overhead projector or board as follows:
CASH BOOK
1 Jul Balance b/d 100 9 Jul Cash 97.50
9 Jul Discount allowed 2.50 Discount Allowed
Year 3 £
9 Jul L Green 2.50
Hand out copies of, or show on the overhead projector, the following exercise and ask the students to work through it.
Exercise
On 2 May Year 5, B Hall, a trader, sells goods worth £720 on credit to F Trill.The terms of sale allow a 21/2% cash discount for payment within one month. F Trill pays his account by cheque on 30 May Year 5.
Required
Record these transactions in the books of B Hall.
Solution
CASH BOOK
Cash Bank Cash Bank
Year 5 £ £ £ £
30 May F Trill 702
Cash Book: 3 columns – cash discount
F Trill
Year 5 £ Year 5 £
2 May Sales 720 30 May Bank 702
30 May Discount allowed 18 Discount Allowed
Year 5 £
30 May F Trill 18
2 Discount received
Remind the students that discount received represents discount from the buyer’s viewpoint, ie by receiving cash discount the buyer pays less to settle the account.
Illustrate discount received with the example below.
Example
A Brown the trader (see page 62) is now a debtor who owes T Wells the sum of £500 at 1 July Year 3. The terms of sale allow 2% cash discount for payment within 14 days and A Brown meets this condition.Thus, A Brown pays only
£500 less the £10 discount = £490
In account terms, the transaction would appear as follows:
Transaction effect Book-keeping action
(a) Bank - £490 Credit bank account
Creditor: T Wells - £490 Debit T Wells (b) Creditor: T Wells - £10 Debit T Wells
Discount received + £10 Credit discount received
Point out that discount received is an income (or ‘revenue’) account of A Brown and is kept in the General Ledger. It also serves as a ‘holding’ account, which holds the balance of the discount received until it is transferred to the Profit & Loss Account at the end of the period.
Illustrate the account entries on the overhead projector or board as follows:
Cash Book: 3 columns – cash discount
Hand out copies of, or display on the overhead projector, the following exercise. Ask the students to work through it.
Exercise
On 3 June Year 5, B Hall buys goods worth £840 on credit from Laken Ltd.The terms of sale allow 33/4% cash discount for payment within one month. B Hall pays the account by cheque on 29 June Year 5.
Required
Record this transaction in the books of B Hall.
Solution
The amount of cash discount = £840 ×33/4/100 = £31.50 Therefore the amount to be paid = £840 - £31.50 = £808.50
CASH BOOK
Cash Bank Cash Bank
Year 5 £ £
29 Jun B Hall 808.50
Laken Ltd
Year 5 £ Year 5 £
29 Jun Bank 808.50 29 Jun 840
29 Jun Discount received 31.50
Discount Received
Year 5 £
29 Jun Laken Ltd 31.50
Cash Book: 3 columns – cash discount
CASH BOOK
10 Jul Bank 490 1 Jul Balance b/d 500
10 Jul Discount received 10
Discount Received
Year 3 £
10 Jul T Wells 10
Step 3
1 Explain the disadvantage of going to the General Ledger every time an entry is made for cash discount. It makes less work to have discount columns in the Cash Book.The discount entry can then be made when entering either the receipt or payment of money.
2 Show the Cash Book entries for A Brown that would be recorded in place of those shown on pages 63 and 65.
CASH BOOK
Disc Disc
All’d Cash Bank Rec’d Cash Bank
Year 3 £ £ £ Year 3 £ £ £
9 Jul L Green 2.50 97.50 10 Jul T Wells 10 490
Point out that the entries in the personal (debtor/creditor) accounts are unchanged.
Because these entries remain unchanged, discount amounts can be collected in the discount columns and the totals transferred periodically into the General Ledger as shown below.
3 Explain that when payment is made by cheque, it is common practice to include the number of each cheque in the Cash Book. If cheque numbers are included in a question, these numbers should be stated in the answer beside the name of the payee in brackets. Cheque numbers appear only on the credit side of the Cash Book, ie in respect of cheques drawn by the firm for which the entries in the Cash Book are being recorded. It is sufficient for the students to show the last 3 numbers only, eg a payment of £315 by cheque number 235212 to F Smith would appear as:
CASH BOOK
Dr Cr
Disc Cash Bank
Year 4 £ £ £
17 Feb F Smith (212) 315 Cash Book: 3 columns – cash discount
total of left-hand discount column to total of right-hand discount column to
Discount Allowed Account Discount Received Account
(debit side) (credit side)
Aims: to be able to prepare a 3-column Cash Book, including entries for discounts; and to be able to post discount totals to the General Ledger
4 Display exercise T/10.1 in the Appendix (page 230) on the overhead projector. Work through it with the class. This exercise illustrates the use of the 3-column Cash Book, as well as the immediate postings to ledger accounts and the end-of-the-month transfer of column totals to the respective discount accounts.
Solution to T/10.1
Cash Book: 3 columns – cash discount
CASH BOOK
Disc Disc
All’d Cash Bank Rec’d Cash Bank
Year 5 £ £ £ Year 5 £ £ £
1 May Bal’s b/d 93 1,040 13 May Stationery 56
11 May R Vine 7 343 18 May T Dole (214) 7 273
24 May A Croft 11 429
28 May Bank C 80 21 May Insurance (215) 190
28 May Cash (216) C 80
30 May W Kone (217) 9 291
31 May Bal’s c/d 117 978
18 173 1,812 16 173 1,812
1 Jun Bal’s b/d 117 978
SALES LEDGER A Croft
Year 5 £ Year 5 £
1 May Balance b/d 440 24 May Bank 429
24 May Discount allowed 11
440 440
R Vine
Year 5 £ Year 5 £
1 May Balance b/d 350 11 May Bank 343
11 May Discount allowed 7
350 350
PURCHASES LEDGER T Dole
Year 5 £ Year 5 £
18 May Bank 273 1 May Balance b/d 280
18 May Discount received 7
280 280
W Kone
Year 5 £ Year 5 £
30 May Bank 291 1 May Balance b/d 300
30 May Discount received 9
300 300
GENERAL LEDGER
5 Direct the students’ attention to the following points in the Cash Book and ledgers shown above, that:
● the total of each discount column is transferred – to the same side (Dr or Cr) in the ledger;
● there is no balancing of discount columns;
● prompt postings are made of other items, eg to personal accounts, stationery, or insurance;
● use of the word ‘sundries’ in each discount account.
Note
Explain that the word ‘sundries’ has a general application and has been used elsewhere in this text. In this subject, it means a number of entries amounting to the sum stated.
6 Common errors made by candidates
Draw the attention of students to the following points as they work through the exercises listed on page 69.
(a) The reversal of entries: payments debited and income credited.
(b) When recording money received from cash sales that is banked the same day candidates may fail to do the full contra (see Lesson 9, page 49). They make the entry in Dr cash but then either debit or credit the bank column.
(c) Showing a credit balance of cash.This type of entry is the equivalent of a deficit of cash, which is impossible. If a Cr cash balance emerges there is something wrong with the entries.
(d) Sometimes discount columns have been omitted from the Cash Book when the entries should be included.
(e) Cash discount added to the amount of a cheque.
Cash Book: 3 columns – cash discount
(f ) The discount columns are balanced, ie a balance is found between the totals of the 2 columns.
(g) When the candidates post entries to the discount accounts (in the General Ledger) they may make one of two errors; they:
● post individual items, which is quite wrong and defeats the purpose of having the discount columns;
● post the column totals to the wrong side of each discount account.
7 Give the students each a copy of exercise T/10.2 in the Appendix (page 231) and ask them to work through it. However, before they start work on the exercise, point out that sometimes a payment or receipt of money to or from a debtor or creditor is described as being ‘in settlement of the amount due’ or ‘in settlement of a debt’.These terms indicate that a cash discount has been either received or allowed. For example a cheque for £720 received in settlement of an amount of £750 means that a cash discount of £30 has been allowed, and this amount should be recorded in the discount allowed column of the Cash Book.
Hand out copies of exercises T/10.3 and T/10.4 in the Appendix (pages 232–3) to the class and ask the students to work through them. Both these exercises are from past LCCIEB First Level Book-keeping papers. They require information from different sources to be brought together. For example, for T/10.3, information from the bank paying-in book, cheque-book counterfoils, and record of movements of cash is required.Tell the students that they must keep the entries in strict date order. In T/10.3 certain information picked up from the bank statement is to be entered after an initial balancing.
Cash Book: 3 columns – cash discount