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HP Inc. (HPQ)
Analysis of Bad Debts
Difficulty: Advanced
Allowance for doubtful accounts receivable (bad debts) is a contra account which reduce the balance of the company’s gross accounts receivable.The relationship between the allowance and the balance in receivables should be relatively constant unless there is a change in the economy overall or a change in customer base.
Receivables Accounting Policy
Accounts Receivable
HP establishes an allowance for doubtful accounts for accounts receivable. HP records a specific reserve for individual accounts when HP becomes aware of specific customer circumstances, such as in the case of a bankruptcy filing or deterioration in the customer’s operating results or financial position. If there are additional changes in circumstances related to the specific customer, HP further adjusts estimates of the recoverability of receivables. HP maintains bad debt reserves for all other customers based on a variety of factors, including the use of third-party credit risk models that generate quantitative measures of default probabilities based on market factors, the financial condition of customers, the length of time receivables are past due, trends in the weighted-average risk rating for the portfolio, macroeconomic conditions, information derived from competitive benchmarking, significant one-time events and historical experience. The past due or delinquency status of a receivable is based on the contractual payment terms of the receivable.
HP has third-party short-term financing arrangements intended to facilitate the working capital requirements of certain customers. These financing arrangements, which in certain cases provide for partial recourse, result in the transfer of HP’s trade receivables to a third party. HP reflects amounts transferred to, but not yet collected from, the third party in accounts receivable in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. For arrangements involving an element of recourse, the fair value of the recourse obligation is measured using market data from similar transactions and reported as a current liability in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.
Source: 10-K (filing date: 2018-12-13).
Allowance for Doubtful Accounts Receivable
Based on: 10-K (filing date: 2018-12-13), 10-K (filing date: 2017-12-14), 10-K (filing date: 2016-12-15), 10-K (filing date: 2015-12-16), 10-K (filing date: 2014-12-18), 10-K (filing date: 2013-12-30).
2018 Calculations
1 Allowance as a percentage of accounts receivable, gross = 100 × Allowance for doubtful accounts ÷ Accounts receivable, gross
= 100 × ÷ =
| Ratio | Description | The company |
|---|---|---|
| Allowance as a percentage of accounts receivable, gross | Allowance for doubtful accounts divided by the gross accounts receivable. | HP Inc.’s allowance as a percentage of accounts receivable, gross declined from 2016 to 2017 but then increased from 2017 to 2018 not reaching 2016 level. |
Allowance for Credit Losses
Based on: 10-K (filing date: 2018-12-13), 10-K (filing date: 2017-12-14), 10-K (filing date: 2016-12-15), 10-K (filing date: 2015-12-16), 10-K (filing date: 2014-12-18), 10-K (filing date: 2013-12-30).
2018 Calculations
1 Allowance as a percentage of financing receivables, gross = 100 × Allowance for doubtful accounts ÷ Financing receivables, gross
= 100 × ÷ =
| Ratio | Description | The company |
|---|---|---|
| Allowance as a percentage of financing receivables, gross | Allowance for credit losses divided by the gross financing receivable. |