Final answer:
To calculate this year's bad debt expense, follow the formula: Bad Debt Expense = Beginning Allowance + Amount Written Off - Ending Allowance.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate this year's bad debt expense, we need to consider the changes in the Allowance for Bad Debts account. The formula for calculating bad debt expense is: Bad Debt Expense = Beginning Allowance + Amount Written Off - Ending Allowance.
In this case, the beginning allowance is $9,000, and $16,000 of accounts were written off during the year. To find the ending allowance, we need to calculate 2.21% of credit sales for the period. Multiply $710,000 by 2.21% to find the ending allowance. Then, we can substitute the values into the formula to find the bad debt expense for this year.