charge off

Charge Off

1. A debt that is deemed uncollectable and written off. Also known as a bad debt.

2. A one time expense incurred by a company that negatively affects earnings.

Notes:

Companies often say something like: "we will take a one-time charge against earnings this quarter." This means there has been an extraordinary event, which, although affecting present earnings, will not occur again in the future. As a result they will usually give an EPS figure with and without this charge.

See also: Debt

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Charge off

See: Bad debt

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charge off

See write off.