Also known as an account receivable. The word receivables has no legal definition, but is used to mean the amount owed by a debtor to a creditor to satisfy a debt or claim. For example, accounts receivable are monies owed to a company for goods or services that have been delivered or performed, but not yet paid for by the customer. It is wider in scope than the term book debts.

In the context of a securitisation, receivables represent the assets (for example, music royalties) or debts (for example, mortgage loan repayments) that are used to underpin the issuance of debt securities.