Current Account Agreement Mexico (Acuerdo de Cuenta Corriente)

A Current Account Agreement Mexico (Acuerdo de Cuenta Corriente) is a commercial contract by which two parties engaged in ongoing commercial transactions agree that all reciprocal credits, debts, and payments arising from their commercial relationship will be recorded in a single running account (cuenta corriente), with periodic balancing (corte de cuenta) to determine the net balance (saldo neto) owed by one party to the other, governed by the Código de Comercio (CCom) Articles 310 through 322. The cuenta corriente mechanism transforms the multiple individual obligations between the parties into a single net balance at each balancing period, avoiding the need to separately settle each transaction and providing an efficient framework for ongoing commercial relationships.

Código de Comercio Article 310 defines the cuenta corriente as the contract by which two commercial parties (comerciantes) agree to record all their reciprocal operations in a single account, so that all the individual credits and debits are merged into a single net balance at periodic intervals. Article 311 CCom establishes that all entries (partidas) in the cuenta corriente — whether for goods delivered, services rendered, payments made, or any other commercial operation — lose their individual identity once recorded, and can only be claimed as part of the net balance. This novation effect (efecto novatorio) is a fundamental characteristic of the cuenta corriente — the original individual obligations are extinguished and replaced by the account balance.

CCom Article 312 provides for the calculation of interest (intereses) on the net balance in favor of whichever party has a credit position at the closing of each account period. The interest rate is agreed by the parties or, in the absence of agreement, defaults to the commercial rate under CCom Article 362 (6% annually). Interest on the net balance is added to the account as a new entry for the following period, creating compound interest (interés compuesto) over time.

CCom Article 313 specifies the balancing mechanism: at each agreed period (corte de cuenta), all debits and credits are offset (compensadas) to produce the net balance (saldo neto). The party owing the net balance has an obligation to pay or to accept the balance as the opening entry for the next account period, depending on the agreement. CCom Article 314 establishes that the net balance at each closing constitutes an independent debt, separate from the individual transactions that composed it, and may be claimed through executive action (acción ejecutiva) if documented in a public deed or acknowledged instrument.

The cuenta corriente is the legal framework underlying the commercial credit arrangements commonly used in Mexico between distributors and their regular suppliers, between factoring companies and their clients (empresas de factoraje under the Ley General de Organizaciones y Actividades Auxiliares del Crédito), between bank branches and their correspondent bank partners, and between parent companies and subsidiaries in inter-company financial arrangements. The agreement requires that both parties be comerciantes (merchants) under the Código de Comercio — non-merchant parties (personas físicas not engaged in commerce) cannot validly enter into a cuenta corriente under CCom Article 310's scope.

A Current Account Agreement Mexico (Acuerdo de Cuenta Corriente) is needed when two commercial parties engaged in a continuous, high-volume trading relationship wish to establish a formal framework for tracking reciprocal obligations without requiring individual payment for each transaction.

The agreement is essential for distributors and their primary suppliers with daily or weekly transactions. A food distributor (distribuidor de alimentos) receiving daily deliveries from multiple suppliers, returning unsold goods, receiving credit notes for promotions, and making weekly or monthly payments needs a cuenta corriente framework to efficiently manage the financial relationship — rather than issuing individual payment orders and receipts for each delivery, the parties reconcile the running account monthly and settle only the net balance.

Factoring operations (operaciones de factoraje) under the Ley General de Organizaciones y Actividades Auxiliares del Crédito frequently use cuenta corriente structures. A company that regularly sells its accounts receivable (facturas) to a factoring company (empresa de factoraje) at a discount, and periodically receives advances and makes repayments, benefits from the cuenta corriente's automatic netting mechanism — each transaction is entered in the account and the net balance is settled at month-end.

Inter-company financial management (tesorería corporativa intercompañías) in Mexican corporate groups (grupos empresariales) often involves cuenta corriente agreements between the parent company (empresa controladora) and its subsidiaries (empresas subsidiarias). The parent provides financing, receives dividend flows, charges management fees, and lends surplus cash — all these flows are recorded in a cuenta corriente between entities, with periodic balancing and interest on net positions.

The agreement is also appropriate for ongoing professional services relationships where the service provider and client have continuous engagements — a law firm handling multiple matters for a corporate client, a marketing agency with a retainer relationship, or an IT services company with a long-term service contract. The cuenta corriente records monthly billings, payments, credits, and charges, with a monthly statement (estado de cuenta) and net balance settlement.

Under CCom Article 314, the net balance of a cuenta corriente upon each closing can be claimed through executive action — meaning it constitutes an enforceable title (título ejecutivo) if properly documented. This enforcement advantage makes the cuenta corriente more effective than a series of individual invoices for debt recovery purposes, provided the agreement meets CCom Article 310's requirements.

A valid Current Account Agreement Mexico (Acuerdo de Cuenta Corriente) under Código de Comercio Articles 310–322 must include the following essential elements:

Parties' Commercial Status (Carácter Mercantil de las Partes): Both parties must be identified as comerciantes (merchants) under the Código de Comercio — individuals (personas físicas) engaged in commerce under CCom Article 3, or companies (personas morales mercantiles) constituted as sociedad anónima (S.A.), sociedad de responsabilidad limitada (S. de R.L.), or any other mercantile form. The parties' RFC, fiscal addresses, and legal representatives (with corresponding powers of attorney — poderes notariales) must be identified.

Scope of the Account (Alcance de la Cuenta Corriente): A specific description of the types of transactions that will be recorded in the cuenta corriente — for example, 'todas las operaciones de compraventa de mercancías, servicios, notas de crédito, notas de débito, pagos, y devoluciones derivadas de la relación comercial entre las partes.' CCom Article 310 requires that the scope be agreed — transactions outside the agreed scope are not subject to the novation effect and remain as individual obligations.

Account Balancing Periods (Períodos de Corte de Cuenta): The frequency of account balancing (corte de cuenta) — monthly (mensual), quarterly (trimestral), or any other agreed period. At each corte, all entries from the period are offset (compensadas) and a net balance (saldo neto) is calculated. CCom Article 313 gives both parties the right to demand an account statement and balancing at each agreed period end.

Interest on Net Balance (Intereses sobre el Saldo Neto): The agreed interest rate applied to the net balance outstanding at each period close — either a fixed rate or a variable rate referenced to TIIE. Under CCom Article 312, interest runs in favor of the creditor party from the corte date until payment or capitalization in the following period. The compounding mechanism (capitalización) and the treatment of interest entries in the subsequent period must be specified.

Novation Effect Declaration (Declaración de Efecto Novatorio): An explicit statement that all individual transactions entered into the cuenta corriente lose their independent character upon entry and are merged into the account balance under CCom Article 311. This clause prevents either party from separately claiming payment of individual invoices or transactions that have been entered in the account — they may only claim the net balance.

Enforcement of Net Balance (Exigibilidad del Saldo Neto): The mechanism for enforcing payment of the net balance at each period close — whether through demand letter (carta de requerimiento), issuance of a pagaré for the net balance amount (giving the creditor executive enforcement rights under LGTOC Article 170), or direct judicial action (acción ejecutiva mercantil) under CCom Article 314 and Article 1391 CCom.

Termination Provisions (Causas y Efectos de la Terminación): The circumstances under which either party may terminate the cuenta corriente — end of the agreed term, material breach of the agreement, insolvency of either party (concurso mercantil under the Ley de Concursos Mercantiles), or unilateral notice. Upon termination, CCom Article 320 provides for a final closing balance (liquidación del saldo final) that constitutes an independent and immediately enforceable debt.

Dispute Resolution (Resolución de Controversias): Whether disputes over the account balance or individual entries are submitted to mediation (mediación), arbitration (arbitraje ante la Comisión Nacional de Arbitraje Comercial — CANACO or CANACO Servytur), or litigation before the Juzgado Mercantil competente. Forms-legal.com provides this Current Account Agreement Mexico template as a reference for establishing cuenta corriente arrangements. Agreements involving significant credit exposure should be reviewed by a Licenciado en Derecho specialised in derecho mercantil.