Accounting glossary

What is liability?

What the business owes: supplier payables, taxes collected, loans, wages accrued. Liabilities and equity together explain how the assets were financed — other people's money or your own.

Example

Supplier payables of $37,929, sales tax payable of $13,078 and the current portion of a loan are all liabilities: claims against the business's assets.

Liabilities plus equity always equal assets, which is the balance sheet's whole structure.

In SeroBooks

The Balance Sheet keeps liabilities current and long-term, live from the ledger. Financial statements

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