Credit Period Definition
Credit Period refers to the duration of time that is given by the seller to the customer to pay off the amount of the product that the customer has purchased from the seller.
There are 3 important components of the credit period are as follows:
- Credit Analysis: Credit analysis is done to know the creditworthiness of the customer. Credit analysis can be done by using various financial analysis strategies; trend analysis so that the customer’s repaying worthiness can be checked.
- Collection Policy: Collection policy involves the methods adopted by the organizations for the recovery of accounts receivable. It also prescribes the late fees, interest and other charges payable if the payment is delayed.
- Credit Terms or Sales Term: Credit terms should clearly mention the credit period with some sellers prefer 30 days’ credit while others may give lesser or more period depending upon their terms of sales.
Credit Period Formula
It can be calculated with the help of below-mentioned formula:
Or
Where,
- Average Accounts Receivable = It is calculated by adding the Beginning balance of the accounts receivable in the company with its ending balance of the accounts receivable and then dividing by 2.
- Net Credit Sales = It refers to the total amount of net credit sales made by the company during the period under consideration.
- Days = Total number of the days in a particular period like in a year total of 365 days are considered for the calculation.
- Receivable Turnover Ratio = It is calculated by dividing the net credit sales of the company with the average accounts receivable.
Example of Credit Period
Below is the example of the credit period.
During the accounting year 2018, net credit sales of the company B ltd was $1,200,000. For the accounting year 2018, the beginning balance of the accounts receivable was $400,000 and the ending balance of the accounts receivable was $440,000. Using the information, calculate the Credit period of the company. Consider 365 days in a year for the calculation.
Solution
- Beginning balance of the accounts receivable of the company: $400,000
- Ending balance of the accounts receivable of the company: $440,000
- Net credit sales during the year: $1,200,000
- The number of days in a period: 365 days.
Now in order to calculate the Credit period, firstly the Average accounts receivable will be calculated as below:
Calculation of Average Accounts Receivable
Average Accounts Receivable = (Beginning Balance of Accounts Receivable + Ending Balance of Accounts Receivable) / 2
- Average Accounts receivable = ($400,000 + $440,000) / 2
- Average Accounts receivable = $420,000
Calculation of the Credit Period
- = $420,000 / ($1,200,000/ 365)
- = 127.75 days
Thus the Credit period of the company for the accounting year 2018 is 127.75 days.
Advantages
The various different advantages related to the Credit period are as follows:
- Minimal Cash Outlay – It is a type of loan which doesn’t have any interest in it. However, one must make sales on a regular basis and timely clear the dues left with the suppliers. This helps in earning more revenues and the company may easily achieve its goals.
- Discount for Fast Payments – An organization must timely clear the supplier’s payments to get noted in their good books and receive huge discounts from them.
- Enhanced Creditworthiness – An organization can enhance its creditworthiness by ensuring the suppliers’ dues are settled on time.
- Uninterrupted Supply of Goods – Suppliers prioritizes companies that clear their payments very much on time and in return they also ensure that such companies receive an uninterrupted supply of goods.
Disadvantages
The various disadvantages related to the Credit period are as follows:
- Fees and Penalties – An organization that fails to clear off the supplier’s payment and that too on time or has made it a regular pattern of delaying their payments can be penalized by them. Therefore an organization must ensure that the vendors’ payments are not delayed in order to minimize or eliminate the possibilities of being penalized.
- Loss of Credit Period Privileges – If an organization has made it a pattern of delaying suppliers’ payment then it may happen that the supplier no longer has trust in the organization’s credibility and it may refuse to offer its credit period privileges in the future.
- Impact on Credit Rating – It is not acknowledged by all vendors and therefore, credit rating impact may get happen that organizations that avail credit period for settling the supplier’s dues may fall out of their good books and it might ultimately impact the organizations’ credit rating.
- Difficulties in Cash Flow – With credit period it might also happen that the cash gets stuck and hence, cash flow might get impacted.
Important Points
The different important points related to the Credit period are as follows:
- It refers to the number of days in which a customer of the company is allowed before paying the invoice for the credit sales.
- It is calculated by dividing the total number of the days in a particular period with the receivable turnover ratio
Conclusion
Credit Period refers to the average time given by the seller to its customer for making the payments against the credit sales. It is a type of loan which doesn’t have any interest in it. However an organization that fails to clear off the supplier’s payment on time can be penalized so, the organization must ensure that the vendors’ payments are not delayed in order to minimize or eliminate the possibilities of being penalized.
Recommended Articles
This has been a guide to the Credit Period and its definition. Here we discuss formula to calculate credit period along with an example, advantages, and disadvantages. You can learn more about accounting from following articles –
- Credit Sales Meaning
- Days Sales Uncollected Calculation
- Formula of Debtor Days
- Formula of Accounts Receivables Turnover Ratio
The post Credit Period appeared first on Wallstreet Mojo.