account payable

American  

noun

plural

accounts payable

1. a liability to a creditor, carried on open account, usually for purchases of goods and services.

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account payable British  

noun

1. accounting a current liability account showing amounts payable by a firm to suppliers for purchases of materials, stocks, or services on credit

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Etymology

Origin of account payable

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Mr. Boutrous said, while specifically leaving open the question of whether Campbell-Ewald could quash the case by depositing a check for damages into an account payable to Mr. Gomez.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2016

It appeared to me undignified that the nation, as a set-off to its having freed itself, should hand in to the King an account payable in the paragraphs of a constitution.

From The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 10 Prince Otto Von Bismarck, Count Helmuth Von Moltke, Ferdinand Lassalle by Francke, Kuno