Reading the accounts
Liabilities
Everything a company owes to someone else.
How it works
Current liabilities fall due within a year; non-current ones later. They include borrowings, supplier payables, tax owed, lease obligations and provisions for future costs.
Some obligations sit off the balance sheet or in the notes — pension deficits, guarantees, contingent liabilities — and can be substantial.
Related terms
- Balance sheetA snapshot of what a company owns and owes at one moment in time.
- Net debtTotal borrowings minus cash — what a company would still owe if it used all its cash to repay debt.
- AssetsEverything a company owns or controls that is expected to produce future value.
- Off-balance-sheetObligations that do not appear as liabilities on the balance sheet but still commit the company.
Mentioned in
More in Reading the accounts
- Inventory
- Net debt / EBITDA
- Interest coverage
- Net income
- Intangible assets
- Net margin
- Income statement
- Gross margin
All 51 Reading the accounts terms · The full glossary, 433 terms
Educational reference only. Nothing here is investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell anything, and tax treatment depends on your own circumstances and the country you are in.