Bookkeeping / Bookkeeping Academy / Computers and Tech

Understanding the link between the Debtors Control Account and the Aged Debtors Listing

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We will assume in this example that we only invoice in one currency. All values are in Euro.

What is the Aged Debtors listing

The aged debtors listing is a listing of all your customers who owe you money. The amounts owed are usually displyed by month

Aged Debtors Report

A/c code Customer Name Amount owed Current 1 month 2 months 3 months+
ALL01 Allied Shops 1200 600 600 0 0
MEG01 Mega Store 1500 200 800 500 0
WES01 Westside Coop 890 0 0 0 890
Total 3590 800 1400 500 890

What is the Debtors Control account

The debtors control account holds every customer related transaction. This includes, Sales Invoices, Sales Crdeit Notes, Customer money, received, customer refunds given, discounts given, and sales ledger debit journal or sales credit journals. Each of these individual transactions are also listed in the customers ledger card. So, all the ledger card transactions also appear in the Debtors Control account.

The important point to note is that the total of the Aged debtors listing must equal the total of the Debtors control account. If the two values do not agree this need to be investigated. If using computer software, here are some items to check.

Check list for errors

  1. Check if someone has posted a nominal ledger journal directly to the debtors control account. This journal will not appear in any customers ledger card and so there would be a difference.
  2. A transaction has become corrupted and is missing from either the debtors control account or a customers ledger card.
  3. The aged debtors listing is not showing all the customers who owe money
  4. The aged debtors listing is not using the same date the debtors control account is using.
  5. A transaction has the incorrect date on it
  6. Check if the Trial Balance balances, perhaps a transaction got posted to the incorrect nominal ledger account.

Tip: Never post a nominal ledger journal to the debtors control account Multi Currency See the section for Debtors Control account and Aged debtor listings when using multiple currencies