Accounts Receivable vs Accounts Payable

The two halves of working capital, often confused by anyone who has not done bookkeeping before. They are mirror images of each other.

Quick definition

• Accounts Receivable (AR) — money that customers owe you. You sent them an invoice; they have not paid yet. AR is on the asset side of your balance sheet.
• Accounts Payable (AP) — money that you owe suppliers. They sent you a bill; you have not paid yet. AP is on the liability side of your balance sheet.

Where you find them in Blankitt

Concept	Menu group	Page	Friendlier name
Accounts Receivable	Sales	Invoices, Contacts	"money I am owed"
Accounts Payable	Spending	Bills	"money I owe"

Blankitt uses both labels in the sidebar — the formal accountant term as the section header (Accounts Receivable / Accounts Payable) plus the friendlier plain-English label underneath (Sales / Spending) so the navigation reads naturally for both audiences.

Why both matter

Working capital management is the gap between AR and AP:

• If your AR is large and AP is small, you are extending more credit to customers than your suppliers extend to you — your cash tightens.
• If your AP is large and AR is small, you are taking more credit from suppliers than you are extending to customers — your cash loosens.
• The ratio between them, the ageing of each, and the trend over time are central to running a healthy business.

The dashboard surfaces both balances and ageing buckets so you can see the working-capital position at a glance.

See also: Bills overview · Bill vs Receipt · Reading the dashboard.