liability vs expense
Liability Vs. Expense
In the following Buzzle article the comparison of liability vs. expense has been given, by enlisting a few of their distinguishing points. Keep reading...
- An unpaid expenditure is a liability
- An expenditure which is yet to occur is also a liability
- Thus every expenditure in itself is a liability and every liability in itself is an expenditure.
- A liability can be an expenditure at first, that is the time when a certain expenditure goes unpaid and is also not claimed. For example, a company fails to pay a said employee his or her salary. If unclaimed, this salary remains to be a liability. The moment it is claimed by the employee, becomes an expenditure. Some common examples of such a category of liability include, all unpaid expenditures, unpaid taxes and unpaid considerations.
- In some cases, liabilities tend to be expenditures. This includes, all bills such as credit card bills. It basically means that we use the services as of now, and pay for them later on. A bill usually arrives in the first week of the month. The bill paid in such a situation is for the services used in the previous months. In such a case, the usage of services creates a month-long liability, which becomes payable on the day when the bill arrives, that is, it becomes an expenditure.
- Thirdly, there are some liabilities that are not expenditure based. For example, the investments by share holders or a secured loan. Such liabilities are always direct liabilities, that is, they never take the form of an expenditure. This case is best observed for the share holder's liabilities. This liability never turns into an expenditure, and even when the company is being wound up, the capital is simply repaid. Dividends and bonus issues are not expenditures and are simply, methods of profit-sharing.
- In case of loans, it must be noted that the interest, fees and Annual Percentage Rate (APR), is the actual expenditure, the total principal amount that has been borrowed is technically a liability.