Legal Definitions - suspense account

Definition: A temporary record used in bookkeeping to track receipts and disbursements of an uncertain nature until they are identified and posted in the appropriate ledgers and journals. A suspense account does not appear in a final financial statement.

Example: A company receives a payment from a customer, but the customer did not specify which invoice the payment was for. The company would temporarily record the payment in a suspense account until they can identify which invoice it belongs to and post it in the appropriate ledger.

This example illustrates how a suspense account is used to track transactions of an uncertain nature until they can be properly identified and recorded in the appropriate accounts.