Liability

In This Article

• What is the definition of a liability?
• Conceptually, how is the liabilities section tied to the assets section?
• What is the difference between a current and non-current liability?
• What are some common examples of liabilities?

Liability Definition

Liabilities are the obligations of a company that are settled over time once economic benefits (i.e. cash payment) are transferred.

The balance sheet is one of the core financial statements and consists of three sections:

1. Assets — The resources with economic value that can be sold for money upon liquidation and/or are anticipated to bring positive monetary benefits in the future.
2. Liabilities — The external sources of capital used to fund asset purchases, like accounts payable, loans, deferred revenue.
3. Shareholders’ Equity — The internal sources of capital used to fund its assets such as capital contributions by the founders and equity financing raised from outside investors.

The values listed on the balance sheet are the outstanding amounts of each account at a specific point in time — i.e. a “snapshot” of a company’s financial health, reported on a quarterly or annual basis.

Liabilities Formula

The fundamental accounting equation is shown below.

• Total Assets = Total Liabilities + Total Shareholders’ Equity

If we rearrange the formula around, we can calculate the value of liabilities from the following:

• Total Liabilities = Total Assets – Total Shareholders’ Equity

The remaining amount is the funding left after deducting equity from the total resources (assets).

Purpose of Liabilities

The relationship between the three components is expressed by the fundamental accounting equation, which states that the assets of a company must have been financed somehow — i.e. the asset purchases were funded with either debt or equity.

Unlike the assets section, which consists of items considered to be cash outflows (“uses”), the liabilities section is comprised of items deemed to be cash inflows (“sources”).

The liabilities undertaken by the company should theoretically be offset by the value creation from the utilization of the purchased assets.

Current and Non-Current Liabilities

The liabilities section is split into two components:

1. Current Liabilities — Coming due within one year (e.g. accounts payable (A/P), accrued expenses, and short-term debt like a revolving credit facility, or “revolver”).
2. Non-Current Liabilities — Coming due beyond one year (e.g. long-term debt, deferred revenue, and deferred income taxes).

The ordering of the liabilities is based on how close the payment date is, so a liability with a near-term maturity date is going to be listed higher up in the section (and vice versa).

Listed in the table below are examples of current liabilities on the balance sheet.

Below are examples of non-current liabilities on the balance sheet.