下文是Accounting Capital给出的释义:
“In its most generic form a true-up means to match, reconcile, tie-out two or more balances with the help of an adjustment. In accounting, this adjustment journal entry is called true-up entry.
There are many reasons why a mismatch may exist between two balances:
· Budgeting – Some recurring expenses are estimated at the beginning of the year and booked in each period accordingly. There is always a chance of going over or under the budget.
· Timing Differences – If a bill or invoice is not received till the end of an accounting period the expense is accrued as per estimate after the actual bill/invoice is received it is then matched with the help of a true-up entry.
· Errors & Omissions – With manual intervention, there is always a chance of human errors and misses.
· Quantification – Not every expense and situation can be quantified and anticipated in advance, for example, an increase in headcount resulting in an additional payment of insurance premium at the end of a year.”
从上述可以得知true-up与adjust是同义词,所以true-up entry也可写作adjusting entry,中文意思为“调整分录”。而需要调整的原因主要是:预算过多/过少、时间性差异、人为错误或疏忽、无法量化。
此处援引Investopedia中有关“调整分录”的示例:
For example, a company that has a fiscal year ending December 31 takes out a loan from the bank on December 1. The terms of the loan indicate that interest payments are to be made every three months. In this case, the company’s first interest payment is to be made March 1. However, the company still needs to accrue interest expense for the months of December, January, and February.
某一公司的会计年度于12月31日结束,其于12月1日获得银行贷款,规定每三个月支付一次利息。在这种情况下,该公司需于3月1日首次付息,但是,仍需累计12月、1月和2月的利息费用。
Since the firm is set to release its year-end financial statements in January, an adjusting entry is needed to reflect the accrued interest expense for December. To accurately report the company’s operations and profitability, the accrued interest expense must be recorded on the December income statement, and the liability for the interest payable must be reported on the December balance sheet. The adjusting entry will debit interest expense and credit interest payable for the amount of interest from December 1 to December 31.
由于该公司需在1月发布年终财务报表,调整分录需要显示12月的应计利息费用。为了准确反映公司的经营状况和盈利能力,应计利息费用必须记入12月的利润表,应付利息必须记入12月的资产负债表。调整分录需借记12月1日至12月31日的利息费用,贷记12月1日至12月31日的应付利息。