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Current liability

 
Investment Dictionary: Current Liabilities

A company's debts or obligations that are due within one year. Current liabilities appear on the company's balance sheet and include short term debt, accounts payable, accrued liabilities and other debts.

Investopedia Says:
Essentially, these are bills that are due to creditors and suppliers within a short period of time. Normally, companies withdraw or cash current assets in order to pay their current liabilities.

Analysts and creditors will often use the current ratio, (which divides current assets by liabilities), or the quick ratio, (which divides current assets minus inventories by current liabilities), to determine whether a company has the ability to pay off its current liabilities.

Related Links:
Learn this easy-to-understand technique of analyzing a company's financial statements and reports. Introduction To Fundamental Analysis
Check out this overview of how to determine and analyze a company's financial position. In Position
Learn about the components of the statement of financial position and how they relate to each other. Reading The Balance Sheet
Learn how to correctly analyze a company's liquidity and beat the average investor. The Working Capital Position
Knowing what the company's financial statements mean will help you to anaylze your investments. Breaking Down The Balance Sheet
Learn the legwork involved in finding out whether your investment can weather a storm. Playing The Sleuth In A Scandal Stock
Read up on some ratios that test whether a company is strong enough to survive tough times. Do Your Investments Have Short-Term Health?


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Business Dictionary: Current Liability (IES)
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Debt incurred by the reporting entity as part of normal operations and that is expected to be repaid during the following 12 months. Examples are Accounts Payable, short-term loans, and that portion of long-term loans due in one year.

Accounting Dictionary: Current Liability
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Obligation payable within one year or the normal operating cycle of the business. A current liability requires payment out of a current asset or the incurrence of another short-term obligation. Examples are accounts payable, short-term notes payable, accrued expenses payable (e.g., taxes payable, salaries payable). See also Current Asset.

Dental Dictionary: current liabilities
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n.pl

Short-term debts and obligations that must be paid within a period of 1 year.

Law Dictionary: Current Liabilities
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Debts incurred by the reporting entity as part of normal operations and expected to be repaid during the following twelve months. Examples are accounts payable, short-term loans and that portion of long-term loans due in one year. 135 F. 2d 679, 684. See balance sheet.

In accounting, the term refers to the credit side of the balance sheet where the sum of liabilities and net worth exactly offset assets on the debit side of the balance sheet. Current liabilities as opposed to long-term or fixed liabilities are to be paid within one year or less (such as salaries, taxes due, etc.).

Wikipedia: Current liability
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In finance, current liabilities are considered liabilities of the business that are to be settled in cash within the fiscal year or the operating cycle, whichever period is longer.

For example, accounts payable for goods, services or supplies that were purchased for use in the operation of the business and payable within a normal period of time would be current liabilities.

Bonds, mortgages and loans that are payable over a term exceeding one year would be fixed liabilities or long-term liabilities. However, the payments due on the long-term loans in the current fiscal year could be considered current liabilities if the amounts were material.

The proper classification of liabilities is essential when considering a true picture of an organization's fiscal health.


 
 

 

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Investment Dictionary. Copyright ©2000, Investopedia.com - Owned and Operated by Investopedia Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2000 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Accounting Dictionary. Dictionary of Accounting Terms. Copyright © 2005 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Law Dictionary. Law Dictionary. Copyright © 2003 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Current liability" Read more