I wonder if "owed" and "due" mean the opposite in the following quote from Wikipedia?
In banking and accountancy, the outstanding balance is the amount of
money owed, (or due), that remains in a deposit account (or a
loan account) at a given date, after all past remittances, payments
and withdrawal have been accounted for. It can be positive (then, in
the balance sheet of a firm, it is an asset) or negative (a
liability).
I think owed and due both mean someone owes someone else another something. But in the quote, it looks like owed means someone else owes someone something, and due means someone owes someone else something. I am confused.
Thanks!
Best Answer
Owed and due are closely related.
Owed, without more explanation, means the total amount of debt obligated to be paid by A to B
Due means the amount of debt that is expected to be paid by a given date (a due date) from A to B.
At times they are the same, at times due is a subset of owed. This assumes that the person owing is also the person from whom payment is due. In legal jargon, they are often used together in the phrase due and owing.