Accruals basis of accounting

Accounting in most countries and for most companies is based on subject matter of the transaction and not actual cash movement. Yes, there are certain forms of business which are allowed to still record transactions as the money is received or paid, however there are just a few of them. 

If you’re required by your local regulation to account for your transactions on accruals basis, this literally means that you would have to accrue for certain transactions based on their subject and not form. Say that for an example you received a service and you have to pay after you’ve received the service in full (say it’s a commercial for two months). You know the expense you’ll be incurring since you’ve signed an agreement and you have the period this expense relates to. When we talk about accruals basis of accounting, we talk about the period the service is received in and the period the related expense thus relates to. So in this example the expense relates to two months and as such you should accrue the amount in those two months. Technically you would divide the total amount by two and add ½ to one and the other ½ to the second month. When this would be your debit entry, with your credit you’d accrue an accrued liability and when the invoice comes from the supplier, this accrued liability is debited and you’d credit the balance to payables to suppliers account.

This way you’re showing that you incurred an expense within the reporting period the expense itself relates to, i.e. when you received the service. Paying for the service is not related to when you recognize the expense.