Home / Accountant Library / Glossary / Islamic finance

Tawarruq

In one sentenceBuying goods at a deferred price and then selling them to a party other than the seller for a lower spot price in order to obtain cash.

Simply put

The aim of Tawarruq is to obtain liquidity, not the goods themselves. You buy goods (metals, for example) in installments, then sell them for cash to a third party, so cash enters your account and you owe installments larger than it.

In accounting terms it is cash financing: you record the cash received and a liability to the bank, and the difference between the total installments and the cash received is a finance cost spread over the repayment period. You do not record the goods as inventory, because they left immediately.

Worked example

A pharmacy needs liquidity to buy stock for the season, so it bought metals from the bank at a deferred price of 108,000 SAR payable within a year, then immediately sold them to another party for 100,000 SAR in cash.

Cash received from selling the goods100,000 SAR
Deferred price owed to the bank108,000 SAR
Finance cost: 108,000 − 100,0008,000 SAR
Share per month with simple allocation: 8,000 ÷ 12666.67 SAR
Finance cost for the year8,000 SAR

Formula: Tawarruq cost = deferred price − cash received from selling the goods

Don't confuse it with

MurabahaIn Murabaha the goods stay with you and you use them; in Tawarruq the goods are a means of obtaining cash, so they are sold immediately.