accrue

verb ac·crue \ ə-ˈkrü \

|Updated on: 19 Aug 2018

Examples: accrue in a Sentence

Definition of accrue

accrued; accruing

intransitive verb

1 : to come into existence as a legally enforceable claim

2 a : to come about as a natural growth, increase, or advantage

the wisdom that accrues with age

b : to come as a direct result of some state or action

rewards due to the feminine will accrue to me
—Germaine Greer

3 : to accumulate or be added periodically

interest accrues on a daily basis

transitive verb

: to accumulate or have due after a period of time

accrue vacation time

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accruable

play \-ˈkrü-ə-bəl\ adjective

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accruement

play \-ˈkrü-mənt\ noun

See accrue defined for English-language learners

See accrue defined for kids

Examples of accrue in a Sentence

I'll get back all the money I invested, plus any interest and dividends that have accrued.
investments that have accrued interest and dividends

Recent Examples of accrue from the Web

In 2016, Kavanaugh reported having between $60,000 and $200,000 in debt accrued over three credit cards and a loan.

— amy brittain, courant.com, "Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh piled up credit card debt by purchasing Nationals tickets, White House says," 12 July 2018
Art Schlichter: The fourth pick of the 1982 draft accrued nearly $1 million in gambling debts by the end of his first year in the NFL, by betting various sports including, allegedly, 10 NFL games.

— chris chase, For The Win, "11 biggest scandals in sports gambling history," 16 May 2018
For example, members of Congress have suggested that hospitals and clinics be held accountable for all cost savings accrued under the 340B program.

— austin frakt, STAT, "340B is a well-intentioned drug discount program gone awry," 22 Mar. 2018
The effect was especially pronounced when the drivers were similar in age—which the researchers suggest would likely intensify a rivalry—and between drivers who had accrued more total points in the season, making the stakes higher.

— david shultz, Science | AAAS, "Is your favorite Formula One driver going to crash? Depends whom they’re racing," 26 Mar. 2018
Moreover, the biggest wage gains in a tight labour market tend to accrue to the poorest workers.

— The Economist, "Worker shortages could heal America’s economy," 12 July 2018
Records specialists are among the police-department staff most likely to accrue overtime because of a backlog of requests.

— rachel alexander, The Seattle Times, "Spokane police chief against posting full internal investigations, body-camera video online," 9 July 2018
State law allows seniors and the disabled to defer their property taxes, with interest accruing at 8 percent per year.

— richard webner, San Antonio Express-News, "Texas lets seniors, disabled defer property taxes, but few mortgage companies allow it," 6 July 2018
Photo: Razer Peru’s Thunder Predator Dota 2 team has been ignominiously dismissed from the qualifiers for Valve’s The International 8 tournament later this summer, which is likely to accrue a total prize pool well in excess of $20 million.

— vlad savov, The Verge, "Dota 2 team dumped from tournament for cheating with a programmable mouse," 26 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'accrue.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of accrue

Middle English acrewen, acruwen, probably borrowed from Anglo-French *acreue "increase," noun derivative from feminine of acreu, past participle of acreistre "to increase, grow," going back to Latin accrēscere, from ad- ad- + crēscere "to grow" — more at ¹crescent

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 2

See Words from the same year

Financial Definition of ACCRUE

accrue

verb

What It Is

To accrue is to record revenue and expenses in the periods in which they are incurred. Accruals, the result of accruing, are key components of the accrual method of accounting.

How It Works

Company XYZ must insure one of its buildings. The insurance company bills Company XYZ $600 every six months (one bill in January, the next in July). If each bill is for six months' coverage, then under the accrual method, Company XYZ would not record a $600 expense in January and a $600 expense in July (doing so would mean Company XYZ was using the cash method); it would instead record a $100 expense each month for the whole year. That is, Company would match the expense to the periods in which it is incurred: $100 for January, $100 for February, $100 for March, and so on.

As you can see, accruing recognizes economic events in certain periods regardless of when actual cash transactions occur.

Why It Matters

Although it is more complex, harder to implement and harder to maintain than the cash method of accounting, most analysts agree that accruing provides a more accurate picture of a company's performance. That's because in any given accounting period, revenues are associated with their corresponding expenses, which gives a truer picture of the real costs of producing the revenue in a given period.

Additionally, accruing allows companies to reflect the fact that sales may have been made and expenses incurred even if cash has not changed hands yet (as is often the case with sales made on credit and similar circumstances). This in turn produces financial statements that are comparable over time.

However, one of the big drawbacks of accruing is that it tends to obscure the nature of the company's actual cash position (e.g., a company may show millions in sales but only have $10 in its cash account because its customers haven't paid yet).

Source: Investing Answers