What are Debtors?

Debtors are people or other firms who owe money to the firm. This will usually happen where the firm has sold goods with a period of credit. The firm sells the good or service but allows the purchaser a period of credit to pay - usually a month. During this month the purchaser owes the firm the money and is therefore a debtor.
If the firm has debts these are considered an asset, because when the debtors pay the firm will have converted the debt into cash in the bank. Because most debts are relatively short-term they are considered current assets. The other current assets are stocks and cash.
The amount of debtors a firm has depends on the line of business they are in. If most of their business is with trade customers where they have to offer credit then the level of debtors may be high. For many retail businesses, however, the level of debtors will tend to be relatively low as most of their sales are cash sales.