Question

Receivables; bad debts and returns; Symantec [LO7-4, LO7-5]

Symantec Corp., located in Cupertino, California, is one of the world's largest producers of security and systems management software. The company's consolidated balance sheets for the 2009 and 2008 fiscal years included the following ($ in thousands):
2009 2008
Current Assets
Receivables less allow of 23,936 in 2009 & 26,259 in 2008 840810 760100
A disclosure note accompanying the financial statements reported the following ($ in thousands):
2009 2008
Trade account receivable, net:
Receivables 864746 786359
less: allow for doubtful accounts (9148) (9200)
less: reserve for product returns (14788) (17059)
Trade account receivables, net: 840810 760100
Assume that the company reported bad debt expense in 2009 of $3,400 and had products returned for credit totaling $3,440 (sales price).
Net sales for 2009 were $6,244,800 (all numbers in thousands).
Required:
1. What is the amount of accounts receivable due from customers at the end of 2009 and 2008? (Enter your answers in thousands.)
2009 2008 Accounts receivable $ $
2. What amount of accounts receivable did Symantec write off during 2009? (Enter your answer in thousands.)
Accounts receivable write off $
3. What is the amount of Symantec's gross sales for the 2009 fiscal year? (Enter your answer in thousands.) Gross sales $
4. Assuming that all sales are made on a credit basis, what is the amount of cash Symantec collected from customers during the 2009 fiscal year? (Enter your answer in thousands.) Cash collections $

Answer 1

1. Accounts receivable due = Accounts receivable + Allowances

2008

= 760,100 + 26,259

= $786,359

2009

= 840,810 + 23,936

= $864,746

2. Amount of receivable written off = Beginning balance for Allowance for doubtful accounts + Bad debt - Closing balance for allowance for doubtful accounts

= 9,200 + 3,400 - 9,148

= $3,452

3. Gross sales = Net Sales + Sales returns

Sales Returns = Closing balance for reserve for product returns + goods returned - Opening balance for reserve for product returns

= 14,788 + 3,440 - 17,059

= $1,169

Gross sales in 2009 = 6,244,800 + 1,169

= $‭6,245,969‬

4. Cash collected = Credit Sales - Goods returned - Bad debts written off - Ending receivables balance + Beginning receivables balance

= ‭6,245,969‬ - 3,440 - 3,452 - 864,746 + 786,359

= $‭6,160,690‬