Liabilities
Liabilities are all of the company’s obligations towards third parties; they are structured by maturity, into short-term liabilities up to one year and long-term beyond that.
Definition
Short-term liabilities include supplier invoices, taxes, social insurance contributions and current account credit; long-term liabilities include bank loans, mortgages and shareholder loans. The maturity split is not cosmetic, it is the core of assessing liquidity.
Obligations towards social insurance and tax authorities deserve particular attention: they are privileged, and where they are not remitted the governing bodies are personally liable.
The wording
Liabilities must be recognised as debt capital where they have been caused by past events, an outflow of funds is probable and their amount can be reliably estimated.
Where to read it
What the software must be able to do
The check is the maturity split: can the software present liabilities by term, and do the payables balances agree with the balance sheet?
Checked Aug 2026
More terms under Bookkeeping and retention: Accrual principle Accrued liabilities Annual accounts Association accounting Balance sheet Balance sheet total Book value Break-even point Business assets Business expenses Cash book Cash flow statement Cash receipts Contribution margin Cost centre Current assets Debit and credit Depreciation Double-entry bookkeeping Duty to keep accounts EBIT EBITDA Equity Equity ratio Financial year Fixed assets Fixed costs Foreign currency General ledger Gross profit Hidden reserves Income statement Inventory count Journal Journal entry Liquidity Loss carry-forward Membership dues Net profit Opening balance sheet Overheads Pass-through item Prepaid expenses Provision Record-keeping ordinance Reserves Retained profit Simple accounts Swiss SME chart of accounts Tamper resistance Turnover Value adjustment Variable costs Volunteer-run structure Voucher Year-end closing modules