Accounts receivable is a legally enforceable claim for payment held by a business against its customer/clients for goods supplied and/or services rendered in execution of the customer's order. These are generally in the form of
invoices raised by a business and delivered to the customer for payment within an agreed time frame. Accounts receivable is shown in a
balance sheet as an
asset. It is one of a series of
accounting transactions dealing with the billing of a
customer for
goods and
services that the customer has ordered. These may be distinguished from
notes receivable, which are
debts created through formal
legal instruments called
promissory notes.