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Microlesson · 5-min read

AS 13 – Ex-Interest Purchase and Sale of Debentures

## Ex-Interest Purchase and Sale of Debentures (AS 13)

### Core Concept

When a debenture is quoted ex-interest, the market price excludes accrued interest. The buyer pays the quoted price plus a separate amount for interest accrued from the last coupon date to the purchase date.

ItemTreatment
Ex-interest price paidDebit Investment in Debentures A/c
Accrued interest paid separatelyDebit Interest Expense A/c

### Purchase Journal Entry (Ex-Interest)

```

Dr. Investment in Debentures A/c [Ex-interest price]

Dr. Interest Expense A/c [Accrued interest paid to seller]

Cr. Bank A/c [Total cash outflow]

```

This mirrors the cum-interest treatment — the split is the same; only the mechanism differs.

---

### Sale of Debentures

#### Case A – Ex-Interest Sale Price Given

No interest is included in the sale proceeds. Compute profit as:

$$\text{Profit / (Loss)} = \text{Ex-Interest Sale Price} - \text{Carrying Amount of Investment}$$

Journal Entry:

```

Dr. Bank A/c [Ex-interest proceeds]

Cr. Investment in Debentures A/c [Carrying amount]

Cr. Profit on Sale A/c [Profit, if any]

```

Separately, interest accrued from last coupon to sale date:

```

Dr. Bank A/c (included in sale settlement)

Cr. Interest Income A/c

```

#### Case B – Cum-Interest Sale Price Given

The sale price includes accrued interest that must be stripped out before computing profit.

$$\text{Accrued Interest in Sale Price} = \text{Face Value} \times \text{Rate\%} \times \frac{\text{Months since last coupon}}{12}$$

$$\text{Ex-Interest Sale Price} = \text{Cum-Interest Price} - \text{Accrued Interest}$$

$$\text{Profit / (Loss)} = \text{Ex-Interest Sale Price} - \text{Carrying Amount}$$

Journal Entry:

```

Dr. Bank A/c [Cum-interest proceeds]

Cr. Investment in Debentures A/c [Carrying amount]

Cr. Interest Income A/c [Accrued interest stripped]

Cr. Profit on Sale A/c [Profit on the investment itself]

```

### Key Rule

The Investment account always moves at carrying amount (cost). Interest — whether paid at purchase or received at sale — never passes through the Investment account balance.

Worked example

### Example 1

Example 3 – Ex-Interest Purchase, Ex-Interest Sale:

  • 01.06.Y1: Purchased 10,000 × 12% Debentures (FV ₹100) @ ₹101 ex-interest (2 months accrued interest also paid)
  • Interest due dates: 30.09 and 31.03
  • 31.10.Y1: Sold all 10,000 Deb @ ₹103 ex-interest

Purchase (01.06.Y1):

Accrued interest (2m) = 10,000 × 100 × 12% × 2/12 = ₹20,000

```

Dr. Investment in 12% Deb A/c 10,10,000

Dr. Interest Expense A/c 20,000

Cr. Bank A/c 10,30,000

```

Coupon received (30.09.Y1, 6 months):

```

Dr. Bank A/c 60,000

Cr. Interest Income A/c 60,000

```

Sale (31.10.Y1) – Ex-interest ₹103:

Ex-interest sale proceeds = 10,000 × 103 = ₹10,30,000

Carrying amount = ₹10,10,000

Profit = ₹20,000

```

Dr. Bank A/c 10,30,000

Cr. Investment in 12% Deb A/c 10,10,000

Cr. Profit on Sale (P&L) A/c 20,000

```

Separately – interest for Oct (1 month, ex-interest sale means buyer pays this to seller as a separate item):

```

Dr. Bank A/c 10,000

Cr. Interest Income A/c 10,000

[10,000 × 100 × 12% × 1/12]

```

### Example 2

Example (Ex-Interest Purchase, Cum-Interest Sale):

  • Same purchase as above: 01.06.Y1, ₹101 ex-interest
  • 31.10.Y1: Sold 10,000 Deb @ ₹103 cum-interest

Strip interest from sale price:

Accrued interest in cum-price (Oct = 1 month since last coupon 30.09):

= 10,000 × 100 × 12% × 1/12 = ₹10,000

Ex-interest sale price = ₹10,30,000 − ₹10,000 = ₹10,20,000

Carrying amount = ₹10,10,000

Profit = ₹10,000

```

Dr. Bank A/c 10,20,000 ← ex-interest portion

Dr. Bank A/c 10,000 ← interest portion

Cr. Investment in 12% Deb A/c 10,10,000

Cr. Interest Income A/c 10,000

Cr. Profit on Sale (P&L) A/c 10,000

```

Or combined in one entry:

```

Dr. Bank A/c 10,30,000

Cr. Investment in 12% Deb A/c 10,10,000

Cr. Interest Income A/c 10,000

Cr. Profit on Sale (P&L) A/c 10,000

```

⚠️ Common exam mistakes

  • Treating the entire cum-interest sale price as profit-or-loss proceeds without stripping out accrued interest — overstates profit on sale.
  • Running accrued interest through the Investment account instead of a separate Interest Expense / Income account.
  • Not passing an interest entry after an ex-interest sale for the stub period from the last coupon date to the sale date.
  • Forgetting that after all debentures are sold, no further interest entry is needed at year-end (nothing held to accrue on).
Bare-Act text Paragraph 23 · AS 13 – Accounting for Investments · click to expand
Interest, dividends and rentals on investments are generally included in the profit and loss account.
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