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Accounting Principles II: Current
Liabilities
Complete Study Guide
Liability Defined
A liability is an existing debt or obligation of a company. It is an amount owed to a third‐ party creditor that requires something of value, usually cash, to be transferred to the creditor to settle the debt. Most obligations are known amounts based on invoices and contracts; some liabilities are estimated because the value that changes hands is not fixed at the time of the initial transaction. Liabilities are reported in the balance sheet as current (short‐term) or long‐term, based on when they are due to be paid. Current liabilities are those obligations that will be paid within the next year.
Accounts Payable
Accounts payable represent trade payables, those obligations that exist based on the good faith credit of the business or owner and for which a formal note has not been signed. Purchases of merchandise or supplies on an account are examples of liabilities recorded as accounts payable. The credit terms of each transaction and the company's ability to take advantage of available discounts determine the timing of payments of accounts payable balances.
Payroll Liabilities
Amounts owed to employees for work performed are recorded separately from accounts payable. Expense accounts such as salaries or wages expense are used to record an employee's gross earnings and a liability account such as salaries payable, wages payable, or accrued wages payable is used to record the net pay obligation to employees. Additional payroll‐related liabilities include amounts owed to third parties for any amounts withheld from the gross earnings of each employee and the payroll taxes owed by the employer. Examples of withholdings from gross earnings include federal, state, and local income taxes and FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act: social security and medical) taxes, investments in retirement and savings accounts, health‐ care premiums, union dues, uniforms, alimony, child care, loan payments, stock purchase plans offered by employer, and charitable contributions. The employer payroll taxes include social security and medical taxes (same amount as employees), federal unemployment tax, and state unemployment tax.
Net pay and withholding liabilities Payroll withholdings include required and voluntary deductions authorized by each employee. Withheld amounts represent liabilities, as the company must pay the amounts withheld to the appropriate third party. The amounts do not represent expenses of the employer. The employer is simply acting as an intermediary, collecting money from employees and passing it on to third parties. Required deductions. These deductions are made for federal income taxes, and when applicable, state and local income taxes. The amounts withheld are based on an employee's earnings and designated withholding allowances. Withholding allowances are usually based on the number of exemptions an employee will claim on his/her income tax return, but may be adjusted based on the employee's estimated income tax liability. The employee is required to complete a W‐4 form authorizing the number of withholdings before the employer can process payroll. The employer withholds income tax amounts based on the allowances designated by each employee and tax tables provided by the government. The employer pays these withheld amounts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In addition to income taxes, FICA requires a deduction from employees' pay for federal social security and Medicare benefits programs. This deduction is usually referred to as FICA taxes. FICA taxes are withheld by the employer and are deposited along with federal income taxes in a financial institution. Voluntary deductions. These deductions are authorized by employees and may include amounts for purchase of company stock, retirement investments, deposits in a savings account, loan payments, union dues, charitable contributions, health, dental, and life insurance premiums, and alimony. Net pay. Net pay is the employee's gross earnings less mandatory and voluntary deductions. It is the amount the employee receives on payday, so called “take‐home pay.” An entry to record a payroll accrual includes an increase (debit) to wages expense for the gross earnings of employees, increases (credits) to separate accounts for each type of withholding liability, and an increase (credit) to a payroll liability account, such as wages payable, for employees' net pay. Special journals are used for certain transactions. However, all companies use a general journal.
Employer payroll taxes The employer is responsible for three payroll-related taxes: FICA Taxes. Federal Unemployment Taxes (FUTA). State Unemployment Taxes(SUTA). The FICA taxes paid by the employers are an amount equal to the FICA taxes paid by the employees. The entry for the employer's payroll taxes expense for the Feb. 28th payroll would include increases (credits) to liabilities for FICA taxes of $250 (the employer has to match the amount paid by employees), FUTA taxes of $26 (0.8% × $3,268), and SUTA taxes of $176 (5.4% × $3,268). The amount of the increase (debit) to payroll tax expense is determined by adding the amounts of the three liabilities.
Understanding Notes Payable
A liability is created when a company signs a note for the purpose of borrowing money or extending its payment period credit. A note may be signed for an overdue invoice when the company needs to extend its payment, when the company borrows cash, or in exchange for an asset. An extension of the normal credit period for paying amounts owed often requires that a company sign a note, resulting in a transfer of the liability from accounts payable to notes payable. Notes payable are classified as current liabilities when the amounts are due within one year of the balance sheet date. When the debt is long‐term (payable after one year) but requires a payment within the twelve‐ month period following the balance sheet date, the amount of the payment is classified as a current liability in the balance sheet. The portion of the debt to be paid after one year is classified as a long‐term liability. Notes payable almost always require interest payments. The interest owed for the period the debt has been outstanding that has not been paid must be accrued. Accruing interest creates an expense and a liability. A different liability account is used for interest payable so it can be separately identified. The entries for a six‐month, $12,000 note, signed November 1 by The Quality Control Corp., with interest at 10% are:
If The Quality Control Corp. signs a note for $12,000 including interest, it is called a noninterest‐bearing note because the $12,000 represents the total amount due at maturity and not the amount of cash received by The Quality Control Corp. Interest must be calculated (imputed) using an estimate of the interest rate at which the company could have borrowed and the present value tables. The present value of the note on the day of signing represents the amount of cash received by the borrower. The total interest expense (cost of borrowing) is the difference between the present value of the note and the maturity value of the note. In order to follow the matching principle, the total interest expense is initially recorded as “Discount on Notes Payable.” Over the term of the note, the discount balance is charged to (amortized) interest expense such that at maturity of the note, the balance in the discount account is zero. Discount on notes payable is a contra account used to value the Notes Payable shown in the balance sheet. Unearned revenues Unearned revenues represent amounts paid in advance by the customer for an exchange of goods or services. Examples of unearned revenues are deposits, subscriptions for magazines or newspapers paid in advance, airline tickets paid in advance of flying, and season tickets to sporting and entertainment events. As the cash is received, the cash account is increased (debited) and unearned revenue, a liability account, is increased (credited). As the seller of the product or service earns the revenue by providing the goods or services, the unearned revenues account is decreased (debited) and revenues are increased (credited). Unearned revenues are classified as current or long‐term liabilities based on when the product or service is expected to be delivered to the customer. Contingent liabilities A contingent liability represents a potential future liability based on actions already taken by a company. Lawsuits, product warranties, debt guarantees, and IRS disputes are examples of contingent liabilities. The guidelines to follow in determining whether a contingent liability must be recorded as a liability or just disclosed in financial statements are as follows: Record a liability if the contingency is likely to occur, or is probable and can be reasonably estimated (for example, product warranty costs). Disclose in notes to financial statements if the contingency is reasonably possible (for example, legal suits, debt guarantees, and IRS disputes that may require a cash settlement or otherwise impact financial statements). Do nothing if the contingency is unlikely to occur, or remote (for example, legal suits, debt guarantees, and IRS disputes the company believes it will win). Warranty liabilities
A warranty represents an obligation of the selling company to repair or replace defective products for a certain period of time. This obligation meets the probable and reasonably estimated criteria of a contingent liability because a company's prior history of making warranty repairs identifies warranty work as probable, and current warranty costs can be reasonably estimated based on past work and current warranties. This obligation creates an expense that is matched against the revenues in the current period's income statement (matching principle) and an estimated liability. The liability is estimated because although the company knows it will have to do warranty work, they do not know the exact cost of that work. If Oxy Co. sells 10,000 units, expecting 1% to be returned under warranty and an average cost of $50 to repair each unit, the estimated liability of $5,000 (10,000 × $50) is recorded as follows: When warranty work is performed, the estimated warranty payable is decreased.
