What are accrued expenses and when are they recorded?

Accrued expenses are the accounting entry of the expenses which should be recognized in the books in current period and will be paid later. This entry is based upon the "Matching Principle" which says that Revenues of the Current Period will be matched against the expenses of the current period to calculate the profit. E.g. you will receive the electricity bill for the month of December and it will be paid in January then as per matching principle this expense should be included in the profit & loss statement for the month of december so you will need accounting entry of accrued expense so that u can realize this amount in the month of december against a liability and later u can pay this liability. Kindly look for "Matching Principle" for more details. Thanks