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CHAPTER 2
MEASURING AND REPORTING FINANCIAL POSITION
statements are prepared, they relate to the business rather than to the owner(s). Viewed
from this perspective, any funds contributed by the owner will be seen as coming from
outside the business and will appear as a claim against the business in its statement of
financial position.
■
Liabilities
. Liabilities represent the claims of other parties, apart from the owner (s). They
involve an obligation to transfer economic resources (usually cash)
as a result of past
transactions or events. A liability incurred by a business cannot
be avoided and so will
remain a liability until it is settled.
Most liabilities arise for legal or contractual reasons, such as from acquiring goods or
services or from borrowing funds. They can, however, arise from the policies and practices
adopted by the business, such as ‘no quibble’ refunds.
Now that the meanings of the terms
assets
,
equity
and
liabilities
have been established, we
can consider the relationship between them. This relationship is quite straightforward. If a
business wishes to acquire assets, it must raise the necessary funds from somewhere. It may
raise these funds from the owner(s), or from other outside parties, or from both. Example 2.2
illustrates this relationship.
Example 2.2
Jerry and Company is a new business that was created by depositing £20,000 in a bank
account on 1 March. This amount was raised partly from the owner (£6,000) and partly
from borrowing (£14,000). Raising funds in this way will give rise to a claim on the busi-
ness by both the owner (equity) and the lender (liability). If a statement of financial position
of Jerry and Company is prepared
following these transactions, it will appear as follows:
We can see from the statement of financial position that the total claims (equity and liabili-
ties) are the same as the total assets. Thus:
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