receivables

Definition

The collective pile of money that customers owe your business, representing either healthy cash flow or an impending collections nightmare depending on who's on the list. These are debts arising from sales on credit, sitting on the balance sheet as assets while you nervously check if people will actually pay. It's optimism quantified as a line item.

Example Usage

The CFO reviewed the aging receivables report and discovered that 'net 30' apparently meant 'maybe sometime this fiscal year' to most clients.

Source: Accounting terminology

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