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Rechnungsabgrenzungsposten

English translation: prepaid expenses

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:(aktive) Rechnungsabgrenzungsposten (IAS)
English translation:prepaid expenses
Entered by: Chris Rowson (X)

19:31 Mar 16, 2002
German to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Accounting
German term or phrase: Rechnungsabgrenzungsposten
"Der in den kurzfristigen Vermögensgegenständen enthaltene (aktive) Rechnungsabgrenzungsposten beinhaltet Zahlungen vor dem Bilanzstichtag, die Aufwand nach dem Bilanzstichtag darstellen."

If you would be so kind, please ...
Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 03:51
pre-paid expenses
Explanation:
da es ja Aktiva zu sein scheinen...
Selected response from:

wrtransco
Local time: 21:51
Grading comment
Thanks to all who tried, particularly to Mag. RaWa and Alison, who gives me the correct orthography for IAS "prepaid expenses".
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2to confuse you even more,
Johanna Timm, PhD
5prepayments and accrued income
Eva Blanar
4deferred item
Kim Metzger
4pre-paid expenses
wrtransco
4Prepaid expenses
Roddy Stegemann
4 -1Accruals and deferred income
Maya Jurt
4 -1Advanced payments
Roddy Stegemann
4 -2accounts receivable
Roddy Stegemann


  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
deferred item


Explanation:
also prepaid item


    W�rterbuch Rechnungslegung und Steuern - Woywode
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 19:51
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 201

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Udo Langen
2 mins
disagree  Alison Schwitzgebel: standard terminology is prepaid expenses for an assets-side item.
21 hrs
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13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Accruals and deferred income


Explanation:
Just translated that into French. See below.

D. Accruals and deferred income
(unless national law provides for such items to be shown under C (9) under "Liabilities").
E. Profit for the financial year
(unless national law provides for it to be shown under A (VI) under "Liabilities").


D. Rechnungsabgrenzungsposten
(sofern nicht die einzelstaatlichen Rechtsvorschriften den Ausweis der Rechnungsabgrenzungsposten unter dem Posten C. 9 auf der Passivseite vorsehen).
E. Gewinn des Geschäftsjahres
(sofern nicht die einzelstaatlichen Rechtsvorschriften den Ausweis unter dem Posten A. VI auf der Passivseite vorsehen).



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Note added at 2002-03-16 19:49:09 (GMT)
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Source: Eur-lex

Maya Jurt
Switzerland
Local time: 03:51
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 6

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Alison Schwitzgebel: not on the assets side. Deferred income is fine for the equity and liabilities side, but the correct translation for assets is prepaid expenses. Accruals only confuse the issue here.
21 hrs
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20 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
pre-paid expenses


Explanation:
da es ja Aktiva zu sein scheinen...

wrtransco
Local time: 21:51
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks to all who tried, particularly to Mag. RaWa and Alison, who gives me the correct orthography for IAS "prepaid expenses".

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alison Schwitzgebel: yes, if it were on the equity and liability side (passiva) it would be deferred income
21 hrs
disagree  Roddy Stegemann: Almost right, but for the wrong reason. See "accounts receivable" and "prepaid expenses" below.
1 day 5 hrs
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30 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
prepayments and accrued income


Explanation:
on the asset side, accruals and deferred income on the liabilities side.

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Note added at 2002-03-16 20:06:47 (GMT)
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Aktive Rechnungsabgrenzungsposten: costs and expenses paid goods and services not sold yet + the unrealised sales revenues (delivered, but not paid yet)
Passive -: future sales already paid for, costs and expenses charged to the Profit and Loss Statement, but not paid yet.

The terminology comes from the British Companies Act 1985 (mandatory balance sheet format)

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Note added at 2002-03-17 19:15:53 (GMT)
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Watch out: Rechnungsabgrenzung is a \"neutral\" term: it shall include both deferred/pre-paid costs/expenses and accrued income. As to the latter, please note that reasonable certain contingent gains are also included in this item on the asset side (so it would be a mistake to declare that only pre-paid expenses are here.

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Note added at 2002-03-17 19:20:14 (GMT)
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sorry: reasonably certain...

Eva Blanar
Hungary
Local time: 03:51
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Hungarian
PRO pts in category: 29

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ken Cox
3 hrs
  -> Thanks for the support!
disagree  Alison Schwitzgebel: These are IAS accounts (see Chris' later question on Zahlungsmittel) and the standard IAS term is prepaid expenses for assets-side "RAP"
21 hrs
  -> Alison: prepaid expenses is just another way to say prepayments (like deferred costs) + accrued income is also asset side! The difference between the two is that you can deduct accrued income from debtors (accounts receivable) and many companies do so.
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
to confuse you even more,


Explanation:
here is what Dietl Lorenz has to offer:
Rechnungsabgrenzungsposten:
accrued and deferred items.

auf der Aktivseite: deferred expenses and acrrues income

auf der Passivseite:
deferred income and accrued expenses


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Note added at 2002-03-17 00:05:57 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

sorry for the typo: accrued income, of course(wish I had some)


    Dietl Lorenz
Johanna Timm, PhD
Canada
Local time: 18:51
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 71

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ken Cox: by far the most elegant answer
1 hr
  -> this makes my day.
agree  Eva Blanar: Nothing confusing about it, that's absolutely correct. (There is a typo in accrued income.)
1 hr
neutral  Alison Schwitzgebel: yes, it is absolutely correct, but not the standard translation. Prepaid expenses is more usual (in the English-speaking accounting world)
19 hrs
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -2
accounts receivable


Explanation:
In the context of your sentence a more general term is likely more appropriate. The sentence appears to be answering the question: "What is included in accounts receivable?"

For your further reference "accounts receivable" are called "accounts payable" on the debit side.

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Note added at 2002-03-17 06:03:35 (GMT)
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In my comment to Mag. RaWa I wrote \"die man sogar verkaufen koennen\". It should have read \"die man sogar verkaufen kann\". I apologize for my bad use of grammar.

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Note added at 2002-03-17 06:12:11 (GMT)
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I offer still further clarification in defense of my suggestion. Abgrenzungskonten include an extremely large and diverse number of items including \"accounts receivable\" and \"accounts payable\". The emphasis in the above text is on short-term items. Thus my answer appears particularly appropriate.

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Note added at 2002-03-18 00:24:19 (GMT)
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The author is speaking of a single \"Rechnungsabgrenzung\" item included among a class of items to which he refers as short-term assets. He is not addressing the entire class of items contained in the category \"Rechnungsabgrenzungskonten\", which is indeed very large. In fact the only thing we know about this particular \"Rechnungsabgrenzung\" item is that advanced payment is made. In this sense you are probably correct that it is not an accounts receivable item, but then what is it? It is not a deferred payment, because it is already payed. Neither is it the entire class of items commonly referred to as \"Rechnungabgrenzungskonten\". Are there a sub-class of items contained in the class Rechnungsabgrenzungskonten that are called \"advanced payments\"?

Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 18:51
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  wrtransco: Forderungen aus Warenverkauf oder Dienstleistung, wobei die eigene Leistung schon erbracht ist. Accounts receivable sind kein capital asset; ihre Veräußerung führt zu ordinary income. Sie können als Sacheinlage in eine Gesellschaft eingebracht werden. IRC
3 hrs
  -> Im großen und ganzen, alles was auf der active Seite steht und als positiv dargestellt wird, gehoert zum Vermoegen. Es gibt manche Sachen unter "accounts receivable", die man sogar verkaufen koennen. Ich verstehe Ihre Verweigerung in diesem Kontext nicht
disagree  Alison Schwitzgebel: accounts receivable are "Forderungen" - I agree that these are assets and belong on the assets side, but Asset-side RAP means expenses (e.g. vehichle tax) that have been paid in advance for the coming period
17 hrs
  -> See above for additional comment. The space provided here is much too small.
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1 day 4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Advanced payments


Explanation:
See explanation under "Accounts receivable" for explanation. Hamo was clearly wrong.

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Note added at 2002-03-18 00:53:22 (GMT)
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See \"Prepaid expenses\" below for correct answer. This was merely a good guess.

Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 18:51
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  wrtransco: It just took you a while to find the right answer...:-)
7 hrs
  -> You are a-very-gracious-winner...
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1 day 5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Prepaid expenses


Explanation:
It appears that Mag. RaWa was correct about the name, simply he added a hyphen which is not necessary.

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Note added at 2002-03-18 00:51:44 (GMT)
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Source: _Principles of Accounting_ by Walgenbach, Dittrich, and Hanson.

Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 18:51
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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