Bad debts

There is no unanimity among different authors of Cost Accounting
about the treatment of bad debts. One view is that ‘bad debts’ should be excluded from
cost. According to this view bad debts are financial losses and therefore, they should not
be included in the cost of a particular job or product.
According to another view it should form part of selling and distribution overheads,
especially when they arise in the normal course of trading. Therefore bad debts should be
treated in cost accounting in the same way as any other selling and distribution cost.
However extra ordinarily large bad debts should not be included in cost accounts.