Accounts Payable (AP)

Beginner 💰 Finance / Accounting

Definition

Money your company owes to vendors and suppliers—basically an IOU list that keeps accountants awake at night.

Example Usage

We need to process these invoices through Accounts Payable before the end of the month.

Origin

Medieval merchant accounting practices formalized in double-entry bookkeeping

Fun Fact

The oldest known double-entry accounting records date back to 1340 in Genoa, Italy

Source: Standard accounting terminology

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