Accounting for Bonds Payable Issued at Premium

The investor is paid interest, typically twice a year, that’s called the bond’s coupon rate. At the end of a pre-determined period of time, the bond is said to mature, and the issuer is then required to pay back the bondholder the original amount of the loan. Under IRS rules, investors and businesses have the option to amortize bond premium, but are not required to (unless they are tax-exempt organizations).

When a bond is issued at a discount, the carrying value is less than the face value of the bond. When a bond is issued at par, the carrying value is equal to the face value of the bond. The carrying value of a bond is not equal to the bond payable amount unless the bond was issued at par. Generally, bonds payable fall in the non-current class of liabilities. You need to know how much money you’ll receive with every interest during the life of the bond. Remember, though, you’ll use the face value of the bond to calculate the interest payments, not the amount that you paid for the bonds. Another way to consider this problem is to note that the total borrowing cost is increased by the $7,722 discount, since more is to be repaid at maturity than was borrowed initially.

Definition of Premium on Bonds Payable

Ultimately, the unamortized portion of the bond’s discount or premium is either subtracted from or added to the bond’s face value to arrive at carrying value. For your interest payment, you’ll debit cash because you’re receiving an increase in cash. Calculate the current interest expense based on the book value. To get the current interest expense, you’ll use the yield at the time you purchased the bond and the book value. For example, if you purchased a bond for $104,100 at an 8% yield, then the interest expense is $8,328 ($104,100 x 8%). Remember, though, that interest is paid twice per year so you need to divide that number by two, giving you $4,164.

The Straight Method is preferable when the premium amount is very less or insignificant. Over the life of the bond, the balance in the account Premium on Bonds Payable must be reduced to $0. In our example, the bond premium of $4,100 must be reduced to $0 during the bond’s 5-year life. By reducing the bond premium to $0, the bond’s book value will be decreasing from $104,100 on January 1, 2021 to $100,000 when the bonds mature on December 31, 2025.

Bond Premium with Straight-Line Amortization

In this case, you’ll debit the bond premium account $410.After the first interest payment, the bond premium account value should be $3,690 or $4,100 – $410. Remember, you credited the bond premium account $4,100 when you bought the bond. The bond premium is the amount you calculated in Step 1 above. That value is the interest expense used in the straight line method.. In this case, you’ll debit the bond premium account $336.After the first interest payment, the bond premium account value should be $3,764 or $4,100 – $336. Premium BondsA premium bond refers to a financial instrument that trades in the secondary market at a price exceeding its face value.

• The entry on December 31 to record the interest payment using the effective interest method of amortizing interest is shown on the following page.
• The bond’s term is used as the time period in the present value calculation.
• As part of the financing arrangement, the issuer of the bonds is obligated to pay periodic interest across the borrowing term and the principal amount on the date of maturity.
• Full BioSuzanne is a content marketer, writer, and fact-checker.

Bonds that result in a premium or a discount should be amortized by either applying the effective interest method or the straight-line method. For your exam, it is very important that you understand how to calculate the periodic amortization expense that will be applied to the premium or the discount. The company chose to create a premium account, rather than write off the how to calculate premium on bonds payable difference in Cash Flows over the life of the bond since it would like to maintain its financial leverage. The bond is issued at a premium in order to create an immediate capital gain for the issuer. The company typically chooses to issue the bond when it has exhausted most or all of its current sources of financing, but still needs additional funds in the short run.

Step 2: Premium on bonds payable

If deferring current income is your primary consideration, you might choose EIRA for premium bonds and SLA for discount bonds. Is also called the stated, coupon, or nominal rate is the rate used to pay interest. Firms state this rate in the bond indenture, print it on the face of each bond, and use it to determine the amount of cash paid each interest period. Recalculate the book value of the bond for the next interest payment. The new book value of the bond is the previous book value minus the debit to the bond premium account.

Currently, generally accepted accounting principles require use of the effective interest method of amortization unless the results under the two methods are not significantly different. If the amounts of interest expense are similar under the two methods, the straight‐line method may be used. These unsecured bonds require the bondholders to rely on the good name and financial stability of the issuing company for repayment of principal and interest amounts. A subordinated debenture bond means the bond is repaid after other unsecured debt, as noted in the bond agreement. Let us consider an investor that purchased a bond for $20,500. The bond’s maturity period is 10 years, and the face value is $20,000.

Bonds Issued at a Premium FAQs

Calculate the interest expense based on the book value of the bond. For example, $5,000,000 of serial bonds, $500,000 of which mature each year from 5–14 years after they are issued. The Daily Upside Newsletter Investment news and high-quality insights delivered straight to your inboxGet Started Investing You can do it. Bond investors need to know how to deal with bonds that cost more than their face value. Learn what the risk premium of investment is and how to calculate risk premium using the risk premium formula.

As the premium is amortized, the balance in the premium account and the carrying value of the bond decreases. The amount of premium amortized for the last payment is equal to the balance in the premium on bonds payable account. See Table 4 for interest expense and carrying value calculations over the life of the bonds using the effective interest method of amortizing the premium. At maturity, the General Journal entry to record the principal repayment is shown in the entry that follows Table 4 . When a bond is issued at a premium, that means that the bond is sold for an amount greater than the bond’s face value. This generally means that the bond’s contract rate is greater than the market rate. Like with a bond that is sold at a discount, the difference between the bond’s face value and sales price must be amortized over the term of the bond.

Debit interest expense with $50,183, debit premium on bonds payable with $3,169, and credit cash with $53,352. As the bonds are issued at a premium, a new account of the premium is created and credited as it is a surplus account with $2,916,000. Bonds payable will always be credited with the face value of the bond. Cash will be the total amount received with the issue of the bond. The coupon rate and face value are used to calculate actual cash flows only. The effective interest rate is the market rate at the time of issuance, and the interest expense is market rate multiplied by the bond liability at the beginning of this six-month period.

• A bond payable is valued at the present value of its future cash flows .
• This is done through the amortization of premium on bonds payable.
• You’ve debited cash for $104,100 and you’ve credited two accounts for $104,100 ($100,000 + $4,100).
• For instance, a bond with a face value of $750, trading at $780, will reflect that the bond is trading at a premium of $30 ($ ).

Regardless of when the bonds are physically issued, interest starts to accrue from the most recent interest date. Firms report bonds to be selling at a stated price “plus accrued interest”. The issuer must pay holders of the bonds a full six months’ interest at each interest date. Thus, investors purchasing bonds after the bonds begin to accrue interest must pay the seller for the unearned interest accrued since the preceding interest date. (xanax) The bondholders are reimbursed for this accrued interest when they receive their first six months’ interest check.