Also known as a prepaid expense. It's an item or service that's been purchased but not yet received or consumed. In the account books, it will be listed as an asset until it's used. At that point, it'll be switched to the expense column.
Say your retail business prepaid its rent for the next six months. This would be a deferred charge, and at the end of each month, your accountant would reclassify that portion of the rent as an expense.
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