Long Term Liabilities: Definition & Examples (2024)

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Long-term liabilities are financial obligations that aren’t due until more than one year later.
• Long-term debt’s current portion is listed separately on a balance sheet. This provides a better picture of current liquidity.
• It also shows whether the company can pay current liabilities when they’re due.
• Long-term liability is sometimes referred to as non-current liability or long-term debt.

What Are Long-Term Liabilities?

Long-term liabilities refer to a company’s non current financial obligations. These are debts due beyond one fiscal year. On a balance sheet, a current portion of any long-term debt is listed in the current liabilities section. This provides a better picture of a company’s current liquidity.

It also shows whether the company can pay its current liabilities when they’re due. Long-term liability is sometimes referred to as non-current liability or long-term debt.

How Do You Calculate Long-Term Liabilities?

To calculate long-term liabilities, you will need to review a company’s balance sheet. Long-term liabilities are often listed under the heading “long-term debt” or “non-current liabilities.” Long-term debt’s current portion is usually listed separately in the current liabilities section. For example:

Company A has the following long-term liabilities on its balance sheet:

Bonds Payable: $1,000

Leases Payable: $500

Loans Payable: $2,000

Notes Payable: $1,000

Long-term debt’s current portion is the portion of these obligations that is due within the next year. In this example, the current portion of long-term debt would be listed together with short-term liabilities. This ensures a more accurate view of the company’s current liquidity and its ability to pay current liabilities as they come due.

Keep in mind that long-term liabilities aren’t included with tax liabilities in order to provide more accurate information about a company’s debt ratios.

Examples of Long-Term Liabilities

Some examples of long-term liabilities include:

• Bank loans
• Mortgage payments
• Lease payments
• Bond payable
• Notes payable

Long-term debt’s current portion is due within the next 12 months. It is usually paid with cash from operations or short-term borrowing.

Long-term debt’s current portion is a more accurate measure of a company’s liquid assets. This is because it provides a better indication of the near-term cash obligations.

Non-current liabilities, on the other hand, are not due within the next 12 months and are typically paid with long-term financing or equity. Equity is the portion of ownership that shareholders have in a company.

Long-term financing is usually in the form of bonds. They are issued by corporations when they want to raise money. These are debt instruments that require periodic interest payments. In addition, you owe principal repayments over the life of the bond.

While long-term liabilities provide financing for a company, they also create some risk. The most common risks associated with long-term liabilities are interest rate risk and credit risk.

Interest rate risk is the risk that changes in interest rates will negatively impact the payments required on the debt. Credit risk is the risk that the borrower will not be able to make the required payments.

Long-term and short-term liabilities have their own pros and cons. Short-term liabilities carry fewer risks.

Thus, the lessened debt burden is preferred in many instances. This is because there are fewer commitments through debt service providers.

Both of these risks are manageable through hedging strategies. Hedging is a way to protect against potential losses by taking offsetting positions in different markets. For example, a company can hedge against interest rate risk by entering into an agreement. Here, you swap variable-rate debt for fixed-rate debt.

This strategy can protect the company if interest rates rise because the payments on fixed-rate debt will not increase.

Hedging can protect against credit risk. For example, a company can buy credit default swaps, which are insurance contracts that pay out if the borrower defaults on their debt. This type of hedging strategy can protect the company if the borrower is unable to make their required payments.

Long-term liabilities are an important part of a company’s financial operations. They provide financing for operations and growth, but they also create risk. Hedging strategies can manage this risk and protect against potential losses.

How Long-Term Liabilities Are Used

Long-term liability can help finance a company’s long-term investment. For example, the expansion of a company’s operations. This could be through the purchase of new equipment or property.

They can also help finance research and development projects or to fund working capital needs. You usually repay long-term liabilities over a period of several years. You need to do this through regular payments, called debt service.

This financing structure allows a quick infusion of large amounts of cash. You then repay this debt per to your debt agreement. For many businesses, this debt structure allows for financial leverage to achieve their operating goals.

Moreover, you can save a portion of business earnings to go toward repaying debt. Or you can use it for future investments. This form of debt can give you the boost you need to stay afloat or grow your business.

It’s important to note that there are several types of long-term liabilities. These include notes, leases, loans, and bonds payable. Bonds get issued by a company in order to raise capital and are typically repaid over a period of years.

Leases are agreements between a lessee and a lessor. Here, the lessee agrees to make a periodic lease payment to the lessor. This is in exchange for the use of an asset, such as equipment.

Loans are agreements between a borrower and lender in which the borrower agrees to repay the loan over a period of time, usually with interest.

Notes payable are similar to loans but typically have a shorter repayment period and may not include interest.

Long-term debt’s current portion is the amount of long-term debt that is due within the next year.

Summary

Long-term liabilities are obligations that are not due for payment for at least one year. These debts are usually in the form of bonds and loans from financial institutions.

A company may choose to finance its operations with long-term debt if it believes that it will be able to generate enough cash flow to make the required payments. However, this type of financing is often more expensive than other forms of debt, such as short-term loans.

As a result, companies must carefully consider whether they can afford the higher interest payments associated with long-term debt before taking on this type of obligation.