Prepaid Insurance: Definition, How It Works, Benefits, and Example

Prepaid insurance is coverage you pay for in full before you receive its benefits. For example, if you take out a mortgage to buy a new home, the lender may require you to pay a one-year homeowners premium at closing. When the policy goes into effect, you’ll then get the benefits of the coverage over a 12-month period.

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Prepaid insurance is usually considered a current asset, as it becomes converted to cash or used within a fairly short time. But if a prepaid expense is not consumed within the year after payment, it becomes along-term asset, which is not a very common occurrence. The payment of the insurance expense is similar to money in the bank—as thatmoney is used up, it iswithdrawn from the account ineach month oraccounting period.

Normal Balance and the Accounting Equation

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For example, if an asset account which is expected to have a debit balance, shows a credit balance, then this is considered to be an abnormal balance. It should be noted that if an account is normally a debit balance it is increased by a debit entry, and if an account is normally a credit balance it is increased by a credit entry. So for example a debit entry to an asset account will increase the asset balance, and a credit entry to a liability account will increase the liability. Prepaid expense is personal account in nature and default normal
balance is debit balance and shown under current asset in asset
side of balance sheet. At the end of each month, the company usually make the adjusting entry for insurance expense to recognize the cost of that has expired during the period. Prepaid insurance is recorded in the general ledger as a prepaid asset under current assets.

Harold Averkamp (CPA, MBA) has worked as a university accounting instructor, accountant, and consultant for more than 25 years. Prepaid Insurance (Asset) is Debited (Dr.) when increased & Credited (Cr.) when decreased. Stay up to date on the latest corporate and high-level product developments at BlackLine. BlackLine Magazine provides daily updates on everything from companies that have transformed F&A to new regulations that are coming to disrupt your day, week, and month.

  • Prepaying your insurance premium might complicate the cancellation process.
  • However, after adjusting entry at the end of the period for the insurance expense, the asset account will decrease while the expense account will increase.
  • Cash and other assets that may reasonably be expected to be realized in cash, sold, or consumed through the normal operations of a business, usually longer than one year, are called current assets.
  • Understand customer data and performance behaviors to minimize the risk of bad debt and the impact of late payments.
  • Unless an insurance claim is filed, prepaid insurance is usually renewable by the policyholder shortly before the expiry date on the same terms and conditions as the original insurance contract.

Reduce risk and save time by automating workflows to provide more timely insights. Drive visibility, accountability, and control across every accounting checklist. Since your mileage varies from month to month, pay-per-mile programs do not offer a prepay option, only monthly billing. When canceling an insurance policy, you may incur a cancellation fee.

As the benefits of prepaid insurance are realized over time, the asset value decreases, and the amount is shown as an expense in the income statement of the organization. The adjustment related to prepaid insurance in the financial statements is carried out at the appropriate time i.e. both in the current period and in the future period (when it becomes due). To illustrate how prepaid insurance works, let’s assume that a company pays an insurance premium of $2,400 on November 20 for the six-month period of December 1 through May 31.

Benefits of Prepaid Insurance

Together with expanding roles, new expectations from stakeholders, and evolving regulatory requirements, these demands can place unsustainable strain on finance and accounting functions. Prepaid insurance is an asset account as it represents the advance amount paid by a firm to the insurer for the insurance services of the upcoming fiscal period. Prepaid expenses are expenses that will occur in the future but are paid for upfront. For reference, the chart below sets out the type, side of the accounting equation (AE), and the normal balance of some typical accounts found within a small business bookkeeping system. So for example there are contra expense accounts such as purchase returns, contra revenue accounts such as sales returns and contra asset accounts such as accumulated depreciation. Drawings account has a normal balance as a reverse of owners
equity account which is debit balance as a normal balance.

Adjusting Entries Outline

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Account type and normal balance of prepaid expense?

Prepaid insurance requires you to pay your premium before receiving the financial benefits of the policy. Insurers commonly offer prepayment for many types of insurance, including auto and homeowners insurance. Although each account has a normal balance in practice it is possible for any account to have either a debit or a credit balance depending on the bookkeeping entries made.

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Example of Prepaid Insurance

Without accurate information, organizations risk making poor business decisions, paying too much, issuing inaccurate financial statements, and other errors. To mitigate financial statement risk and increase operational effectiveness, consumer goods organizations are turning to modern accounting and leading best practices. Simply sticking with ‘the way it’s always been done’ is a thing of the past. To sustain timely performance of daily activities, banking and financial services organizations are turning to modern accounting and finance practices.

Finance and accounting expertise is not only needed to prevent ERP transformation failures, but F&A leaders are poised to help drive project plans and outcomes. Automate invoice processing to reduce manual invoicing costs, maintain compliance with e-invoicing regulations, and increase efficiency across your invoice-to-pay process. Any money you spend with a prepaid card is deducted from your card balance, not your bank account.

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