1. AAT Level 2
Sales Ledger Control Accounts

2. Learning Outcomes
Compare the detailed entries in the sales ledger control accounts
Accounting for bad debts in the Sales ledger control account
Complete a Sales ledger control account reconciliation
Understand the use of an aged debtor analysis.

3. Sales ledger control account (SLCA)

4. Sales ledger Control Account
Sales ledger control account (SLCA)
In Groups Identify the items that can be found on either side of the Sales Ledger Control A/C
Sales ledger Control Account
Bal B/d X
Credit Sales X
Dishonoured Cheques X X
Sales returns X
Payments received X
Discount Allowed X
Bad Debts Written off X
Bal C/D X X

5. Sales ledger control account (SLCA)
Missing items
Missing items
Sales ledger control account (SLCA)
Bal b/d – A debit balance as credit customers owe money
Credit Sales – The total figure that is posted from the invoice column in the SDB
Dishonoured Cheques – If a bank returns a cheque from a customer the original entry must be reversed by debiting the control account.
Sales Returns – This is the figure from the credit note column in the SDB
Payments received – This is the total figure from the sales ledger column from the CRB
Discounts Allowed – This is the figure from the discounts allowed in the CRB.
Bal c/d – The closing balance on the account is carried down from the credit side

6. Bad Debts
When a sale is made to a credit customer, it is assumed that the customer will eventually pay the amount due.
However it can occasionally happen that a customer will not pay the amount owing. This could be because they have now become bankrupt, or have simply disappeared.
This is known as a BAD DEBT or also known as IRRECOVERABLE DEBT

7. Writing off a bad debt
Can you work out what would be the double entry for the following bad debt expense?
Bad Debt £100
Vat on Bad Debt £20

8. Accounting For Bad Debts
Bad debts must be removed from the accounting records as it is no longer a valid debtor.
The double entry is as follows:
DR Bad Debts (an expense account) with the Net amount
DR VAT control account with the VAT element
CR Sales Ledger Control Account with the invoice total

9. Sales Ledger Control account Reconciliation
The SLCA figure will appear in the trial balance as the Debtors figure so it is important that this is accurate.
If all entries are correctly carried out then the total of all the balances on the sales ledgers should equal the balance on the control account
If the totals do not agree the discrepancies need to be identified, and corrected

10. What type of discrepancies may occur?
Can you identify the types of errors that may happen either in the SLCA or Sales Ledger accounts?

11. Errors affecting the control account
The SDB may have been under cast or over cast, so the incorrect total is posted to the control account
Postings have been made to the wrong side of the control account
The discounts allowed recorded in the cash book may have been incorrectly posted
A bad debt may not have been recorded in the general ledger although it was written off in the sales ledger

12. Errors affecting the Sales Ledger balances
An entry from the SDB is posted to the wrong account in the sales ledger
Entries are posted to the wrong side of the Sales ledger account
An entry may be posted as the wrong amount to the sales ledger account
A balance on an account in the sales ledger may be included in the list of balances as the wrong amount or the wrong type of balance e.g. debit instead of credit

13. Preparing the Reconciliation
Step 1:
Sales Ledger Control Account
The total list of debtors equals to £13,777, giving a difference of £605 to be investigated
Balance b/d ,382

14. Preparing the Reconciliation
Step 2 - Note the errors and omissions made
Step 3 – Adjust SLCA for any of the errors that you will identify that only affect the SLCA
Step 4 – Adjust the total of the list of balances from the sales ledgers by adding or deducting the errors that affect this total

15. The following errors have been identified
The total column on a page of the cash book (Debit side) has been overcast by £100 and has been posted to the SLCA
The total of the Sales Day book had been posted as £3,675 instead of £3,765
An irrecoverable debt of £240 has been written off in the individual customer account but not the main ledger
In invoice to Weller enterprise for £478 had been entered into the account of Dagwell enterprises
A cash receipt fro B Berry Ltd has been entered into the Sales Ledger as £256 instead of £265
A balance of £604 on one customers account has been omitted from the list of balances
A credit balance of £20 on a customer account had been included in the list of sales ledger balances as a debit balance

16. Sales Ledger Control Account
Correcting the SLCA
Sales Ledger Control Account
Balance b/d ,382
Bad debts (c)
Balance c/d ,332
14,572
Bank (a)
Sales (b)
14,572
Balance b/d ,332

17. Step 4 adjust list of balances in Sales Ledger
Original total ,777
Less: additional cash receipts ( e ) (9)
Add: Balance omitted ( f )
Less: credit balance included
As a debit balance ( g ) (40)
14,332
The amended total of the list of balances now agrees to the amended sales ledger control account. Of course the individual accounts will also need updating

18. Aged Debtor Analysis
All businesses need cash in order to survive and so they are keen to monitor their debtors
The business can easily tell from the sales ledger how much is on the balance of the different accounts, but these balances do not show how ‘old’ the debt is
A schedule is produced showing how long a balance has remained unpaid

19. Aged Debtor Analysis

20. Aged Debtor Analysis
The part of each balance that is analysed as current are invoices that have been sent out in the last 30 days so are not yet due for payment
All other analysis columns represent invoices that are overdue in this case being two, three or more than three months old