What is an outlay?

The word dispense has several meanings depending on the context with which it is used. Focusing on an economic and accounting field, the term expenditure is used mainly to refer to the following aspects:

  • Disbursement as a synonym of distributing: the act of distributing or distributing goods equitably is called disbursement, regardless of the type of good that is distributed. In this sense, this term is usually related to inheritance distributions.
  • Expense as a synonym of expense: in addition, the term expense also refers to expenses, costes and investments that an entity or person supports. So it is used to encompass in a single word all the possible ways in which an outflow of money can occur. This is the most used meaning for the word expenditure in economic and accounting terms.

Types of expenditures

Although it is mainly a term used to group several related concepts. As are the expenses, investments and costs, we find that in accounting we can distinguish various types of expenditures. All of them related to the assignment, spending or money outflow.

  • Contingent expenditures: these types of expenditures are intended to cover an extraordinary need.
  • Complementary expenses: destined to cover a project or cause in progress, for which an expense has already been produced but which requires a greater financial contribution.
  • Special outlays: are the economic outlets that are considered as extras as they are destined for new projects not previously contemplated.
  • Unforeseen expenditures: those allocations that due to their unpredictable nature have not been taken into account until the moment they occur.
  • Recoverable expenditures: are the expenditures that are expected to be recovered. These money outflows may be produced by a loan issued, a deposit or some type of investment.

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