Report Footnote Warranty For Free

To record the liability, the company would debit warranty expense and credit accrued warranty, which is a liability on the balance sheet. The purpose of this is to record the cost of the warranty in the same period that the revenue is recognized.

To record the liability, the company would debit warranty expense and credit accrued warranty, which is a liability on the balance sheet. The purpose of this is to record the cost of the warranty in the same period that the revenue is recognized.

There is no standard way to estimate total warranty expense, so management should either use historical data to derive the figure or use a defensible method to deriving an estimate. As the visual below illustrates, warranty expense is recorded by debiting warranty expense and crediting accrued warranty.

Accrue the warranty expense with a debit to the warranty expense account and a credit to the warranty liability account. As actual warranty claims are received, debit the warranty liability account and credit the inventory account for the cost of the replacement parts and products sent to customers.

Under current GAAP, a warranty is accounted for as a deliverable?a concept similar to a performance obligation? only if it is a ?separately priced extended warranty? or a ?product maintenance? contract. A warranty is considered separately priced if a customer may purchase the product with or without the warranty.

Warranties are classified in two categories: assurance- and service-type. An assurance-type warranty guarantees that the product will function as intended. This type of warranty promises to repair or replace a delivered good or service if it does not perform as expected.

Typically, purchased assets have some type of standard warranty (frequently, one year). Extended warranties (two to five years) are not included in the capitalization process. Therefore, the warranty cost should be charged to another appropriate expense account.