AccountingHub
A1

Two ways to size the estimate

Switch methods on the same data and watch one add to the balance while the other adjusts to it.

Credit sales $400,000 × 1% = expense $4,000.

Existing allowance $650 + expense $4,000 = new allowance $4,650.

Bad debts expense

$4,000

Ending allowance

$4,650

The starts from the income statement: a fixed rate times credit sales, added to whatever the allowance already holds. It never looks at the old balance.

The starts from the balance sheet: it sets the ending allowance directly, and works backward to whatever expense gets there. The same facts can produce two different numbers, and both are correct under their own method.