accounts receivable

accounts receivable n. the amounts of money due or owed to a business or professional by customers or clients. Generally, accounts receivable refers to the total amount due and is considered in calculating the value of a business or the business' problems in paying its own debts. Evaluation of the chances of collecting based on history of customers' payments, quality of customers and age of the accounts receivable and debts is important. A big mistake made by people overly-eager to buy a business is to give too high a value to the accounts receivable without considering the chances of collection.

accretion: n. 1) in real estate, the increase of the actual land on a stream, lake or sea by the action of water which deposits soil upon the shoreline. Accretion is Mother Nature's little gift to a landowner. 2) in estates, when a beneficiary of the person who died gets more of the estate than he/she was meant to because another beneficiary or heir dies or rejects the gift. Example: if a brother and sister were supposed to divide a share of Dad's estate, but Brother doesn't want it, then Sister's share grows by accretion. 3) in trusts, accretion occurs when a beneficiary gets a surprising increase in benefits due to an unexpected event. (See: probate, trust)