What Are Trade Debtors?

Trade Debtors (Definition)

Trade debtors are invoices owed to you by customers. They’re also sometimes called debtors or accounts receivable. Trade debtors may additionally refer to those customers who owe you money.

Let’s say you sell your product to a customer on credit and send them an invoice for the sale. The amount your customer owes you from that invoice is part of your trade debtors. In your customer’s records, that invoice will be part of their trade creditors. In this way, trade debtors and trade creditors are two sides of the same transaction.

Let’s say you buy some materials from a supplier on credit. They’ll send you an invoice for those materials. In your records, the amount on that invoice is part of your trade creditors. In your supplier’s records, that invoice will be part of their trade debtors. In this way, trade creditors and trade debtors are two sides of the same transaction.