Accounts payable vs accounts receivable: A guide for businesses 

Accounts payable vs accounts receivable—balancing attention to both is crucial for a smoothly operating business.  

While they should be managed separately, dealing with both processes effectively ensures financial stability and prepares your business for future growth. 

This article covers the fundamentals, which will help you differentiate between these terms and understand their significance to the financial health of your business. 

Here’s what we cover:

What is accounts payable?

Accounts payable, also known as AP, is a general ledger account sitting in the current liabilities section of your company’s balance sheet.  

This account lists the company’s current obligations to pay suppliers or creditors.  

Essentially, it’s money you owe to third parties.  

A current liability is defined as an amount due to creditors within 12 months. 

The role of the accounts payable team is to provide admin and financial support to your business and manage all invoices it receives.  

It involves approving, processing, paying, and reconciliating creditor invoices. 

A well-managed accounts payable department streamlines payment and saves your business time and money.  

The team controls outgoing cash by deciding when to pay invoices—to capitalise on early payment discounts and avoid late fees, as well as how to pay (via check or electronically).  

With accounts payable software, you can automate your workflow and speed up the entire AP process to easily stay on top of your financial operations. 

What is accounts receivable?

Accounts receivable, or AR, is a general ledger account in the current assets section of the company’s balance sheet.  

The balance refers to outstanding sales invoices issued by the company to customers.  

It’s considered an asset because the company has extended lines of credit to customers that are expected to be received within the collection terms (usually 30 or 60 days).  

A current asset is expected to be converted to cash within 12 months. 

The accounts receivables department manages the entire process from invoice creation to money collection, including following up late paying customers about overdue invoices and requesting immediate payment.  

The goal is to collect this money as fast as possible, so you can free up cash flow for use in the business. 

The list of accounts receivable invoices is often sorted into an aged debtors report to analyse the amounts according to the number of days past the due date.  

A provision for doubtful debts is a journal entry posted by accountants to estimate an amount of the balance that will not be collected. This provision offsets the accounts receivable account balance. 

By recording a doubtful debts provision, you can account for the impact of bad debts earlier than if you waited months to find out which invoices are uncollectible. 

What’s the relationship between accounts payable and accounts receivable?

At the most basic level, accounts payable and accounts receivable help you answer two critical questions:  

• “How much do I owe to others?”  

• “How much am I owed?”  

Having the answers at your fingertips is essential for smooth day-to-day operations. 

Both AP and AR are crucial for managing a company’s cash flow.  

When these functions work in harmony, it’s easier to balance money coming in with money going out.  

Although they focus on opposite sides of a financial transaction, AP and AR are closely linked, and their effective management is key to a company’s financial health and operational efficiency. 

Using the right accounting software can make both processes more efficient. By automating manual tasks and offering deeper insights, technology helps you send and receive invoices faster and with fewer errors. 

And this ultimately frees up time and resources, so you can focus on what really matters. 

What do accounts payable and accounts receivable have in common?

In every business transaction, the invoice raised is both payable to one party and receivable to another party. 

Accurate reporting of accounts payable and receivable is vital for all businesses using the accrual accounting method.  

This is when transactions are recorded as revenue and expenses on the income statement when the transaction occurs, rather than waiting until the cash is received or paid (which is the cash accounting method). 

It’s important that both payable and receivable accounts are updated regularly to ensure the income statement is a true reflection of money earned and spent by your business. 

What are the differences between accounts payable and accounts receivable?

The main difference between accounts payable versus accounts receivable is that the AP balance is money your business owes, while AR is the money it is owed. 

In terms of business structuring, the two functions need to be separated for internal control purposes and to reduce the risk of fraud, so you need to have a dedicated department/personnel for each. This means those responsible for raising invoices shouldn’t also have the authorisation to pay them. 

The table below explores accounts payable versus accounts receivable in more detail.  

Accounts payable	Accounts receivable
Money owed to others	Money owed to you
Recorded as a liability until money is transferred	Recorded as income unless written off
Shows the position of accounts with vendors	Shows the position of accounts with clients
Displayed as a “current liability” on your balance sheet	Displayed as a “current asset” on your balance sheet

Accounts payable and receivable examples

Accounts payable accounts have all the amounts in the general ledger your business owes to suppliers, such as for materials, equipment, transport, energy, and services like subcontracting.  

It doesn’t include other types of current liabilities, such as payroll, taxes, accruals or short-term portions of debt that are recorded separately. 

Accounts receivable accounts are made up of all the invoices that have been sent to customers or clients for items sold or services performed for them on credit.  

It doesn’t include other types of current assets, such as cash, inventory, or prepaid expenses. 

Here are two accounts receivable and accounts payable examples. 

• Accounts receivable: a retailer managing customer receipts and outstanding balances.  

• Accounts payable: a retailer keeping track of outstanding invoices owed to vendors.   

How to record accounts payable and accounts receivable

When the accounts payable department receives a supplier invoice, a journal entry is recorded in the accounting system, and the expense is posted to the general ledger.  

The unpaid amount is added to the accounts payable balance, which will be cleared once payment is made out of the business bank account. 

When a sale is made, the accounts receivable department records a journal entry to account for the income and adds the amount to the accounts receivable balance.  

A sales invoice is created and sent to the customer (usually electronically) detailing the amount to be paid and the collection terms. 

Once it’s deposited into the business bank account, the AR team matches the receipt to the relevant invoice, marking the invoice as paid and recording a journal entry to clear the accounts receivable account balance. 

Optimising these processes helps your business maintain a healthy cash flow so you have a steady stream of incoming cash to cover all day-to-day expenses. 

To streamline both functions, create a clear step-by-step process for teams to follow, with the aim of preventing invoices from getting lost or sent to the wrong people and reducing inaccurate information on them. 

You can use accounts receivable software to automate most of your AR processes with cloud accounting software.  

This ensures that invoices are raised and sent for you, removing manual data entry and reducing human error.  

Accounting software supports the collection process too by automatically emailing customers about past-due invoices. You can also negotiate favorable payment terms with your suppliers, allowing you to free up more cash. 

Simplify accounts payable vs accounts receivable with powerful accounting software

Cash is crucial for small businesses. And with a solid grasp of accounts receivable and payable, you’re well-equipped to streamline your processes and sustain a healthy cash flow. 

Sage offers comprehensive solutions for managing both accounts payable and accounts receivable, each tailored to streamline different aspects of your business’s financial operations. 

Accounts payable

• Automating invoice processing: streamline approvals, payment and invoice processing, reducing manual errors and saving time. 

• Managing cash flow: provide real-time visibility to your finances, ensuring organised and timely invoice payments while avoiding late fees. 

• Tracking expenses: keep a detailed record of all outgoing payments, making it easier to manage and forecast expenses. 

• Vendor management: effectively manage relationships with suppliers, ensuring timely payments and maintaining good credit terms. 

Accounts receivable

• Invoice management: automate the creation and sending of invoices, ensuring timely billing. 

• Payment tracking: auto-update when you receive payment, send reminders and communications to customers, helping you keep track of any outstanding invoices. 

• Cash flow optimisation: know where your cash stands with advanced reporting, ensuring you have the funds needed for operations. 

• Seamless integration: easily connect with your business management tools and CRM system to get full visibility of your quotes, sales orders, and invoices. 

Accounts payable vs accounts receivable FAQs

Can accounts payable and receivable be recorded by the same person?

According to best practices, different individuals should manage accounts payable and accounts receivable.  

Some organisations take this further: for instance, one person might approve invoices for AP, while someone else sends the actual payments.  

Similarly, for AR, one person may record incoming payments, and another confirms the funds were received.  

This separation of duties reduces the risk of errors and fraud. 

Are accounts payable debits or credits?

Accounts payable is a liability account and is typically recorded as a credit. Under the double-entry accounting method, both debits and credits come into play.  

Debits increase assets (and reduce liabilities), while credits decrease assets (and increase liabilities). 

Where do I find a company’s accounts payable?

You’ll find accounts payable listed under the current liabilities section on a company’s balance sheet.  

Meanwhile, accounts receivable appears under the current assets section. 

Do I send an invoice to accounts payable or receivable?

If you’re invoicing someone for goods or services you provided, it’s recorded in AR. On the flip side, if your business owes money for an invoice you received, that payment is tracked in AP.