Reporting and Analyzing Liabilities
- Explain a current liability and identify the major types of current liabilities.
- Describe the accounting for notes payable.
- Explain the accounting for other current liabilities.
- Identify the types of bonds.
- Prepare the entries for the issuance of bonds and interest expense.
- Describe the entries when bonds are redeemed.
- Identify the requirements for the financial statement presentation and analysis of liabilities.
- (Appendix 10A) Apply the straight-line method of amortizing bond discount and bond premium.
- (Appendix 10B) Apply the effective-interest method of amortizing bond discount and bond premium.
- (Appendix 10C) Describe the accounting for long-term notes payable.
Study Ojective 1 - Explain a Current Liability and Identify the Major Types of Current Liabilities
- Liabilities are defined as “creditors' claims on total assets” and as “existing debts and obligations.”
- These claims, debts, and obligations must be settled or paid at some time in the future by the transfer of assets or services.
- A current liability is a debt that can reasonably be expected to be paid (1) from existing current assets or through the creation of other current liabilities, and (2) within one year or the operating cycle, whichever is longer.
- Debts that do not meet both of these criteria are classified as long-term liabilities.
- The different types of current liabilities include notes payable, accounts payable, unearned revenues, and accrued liabilities such as taxes, salaries and wages, and interest.
Do you have any personal liabilities? Are those liabilities current liabilities or long-term liabilities? Why is it important that you know whether they are current or long-term? If you were going to the bank to borrow money would it be important to the banker to know which of the liabilities were current and which were long-term?
Study Objective 2 - Describe the Accounting for Notes Payable
- Obligations in the form of written notes are recorded as notes payable.
- are often used instead of accounts payable because they give the lender written documentation of the obligation in case legal remedies are needed to collect the debt.
- usually require the borrower to pay interest and frequently are issued to meet short-term financing needs.
- are issued for varying periods of time
- Notes due for payment within one year of the balance sheet date are generally classified as current liabilities.
A discussion of accounting for long-term installment notes payable is presented in Appendix 10C at the end of the chapter.
Study Objective 3 - Explain the Accounting for Other Current Liabilities
Sales taxes payable -
Sales taxes are expressed as a percentage of the sales price.
- The seller collects the sales tax from the customer when the sale occurs and remits the tax collected to the state's department of revenue periodically (usually monthly).
- Most states require that the sales tax collected be rung up separately on the cash register. (Gasoline sales are a major exception.)
- When sales taxes are not rung up separately on the cash register, total receipts are divided by 100% plus the sales tax percentage to determine sales.
Payroll and payroll taxes payable -
If you work 40 hours a week, making $10 per hour, is your take home pay for the week $400? Why not? If the employer pays you $10 an hour for the 40 hours or $400 is this all of the expense the employer has relative to the student’s work week? Why not?
Every employer incurs liabilities relating to employees' salaries and wages.
- One is the amount of wages and salaries owed to employees—wages and salaries payable.
- Another is the withholding taxes—federal and state income and FICA, required by law to be withheld from employees' gross pay.
- Until the withholding taxes are remitted to the government taxing authorities, they are carried as current liabilities.
- Employers also incur a second type of payroll-related liability.
- With every payroll, the employer incurs various payroll taxes levied upon the employer.
- These payroll taxes include the employer’s share of Social Security (FICA) taxes and state and federal unemployment taxes.
- Unearned revenues – Companies such as magazine publishers and airlines typically receive cash before goods are delivered or services are rendered. The companies account for these unearned revenues as follows:
- When the advance is received, both Cash and a current liability account identifying the source of the unearned revenue are increased.
- When the revenue is earned, the unearned revenue account is decreased (debited) and an earned revenue account is increased (credited).
Current maturities of long-term debt -
The current portion of a long-term debt should be included in current liabilities.
- Current maturities of long-term debt are frequently identified in the current liabilities portion of the balance sheet as long-term debt due within one year.
- It is not necessary to prepare an ad justing entry to recognize the current maturity of long-term debt.
Study Objective 4 - Identify the Types of Bonds
- Long-term liabilities are obligations that are expected to be paid after one year and are often in the form of bonds or long-term notes.
are a form of interest-bearing notes payable issued by corporations, universities, and governmental agencies. Bonds, like common stock, are sold in small denominations (usually $1,000 or multiples of $1,000).
- Secured bonds have specific assets of the issuer pledged as collateral for the bonds.
- Unsecured bonds are issued against the general credit of the borrower.
- Convertible bonds can be converted into common stock at the bondholder’s option.
- The conversion often gives bondholders an opportunity to benefit if the market price of the common stock increases substantially.
- For the issuer, the bonds sell at a higher price and pay a lower rate of interest than comparable debt securities that do not have a conversion option.
- Callable bonds are sub ject to retirement at a stated dollar amount prior to maturity at the option of the issuer.
Bondholders are creditors whereas stockholders are owners of a corporation.
- Issuing procedures:
- A bond certificate is issued to the investor to provide evidence of the investor’s claim against the company.
- The face value is the amount of principal due at the maturity date.
- The maturity date is the date that the final payment is due to the bond holder from the company.
The contractual interest rate
, often referred to as the stated rate
, is the rate used to determine the amount of cash interest the borrower pays and the bond holder receives.
- The contractual interest rate is generally stated as an annual rate and interest is usually paid semiannually.
Determining the Market Value of Bonds
Study Objective 5 – Prepare the Entries for the Issuance of Bonds and Interest Expense
- The term time value of money is used to indicate the relationship between time an money – that a dollar received today is worth more than a dollar promised at some time in the future.
- If someone is going to give you $1 million 20 years from now, you would want to find its equivalent today or its present value.
- The current market value (present value) of a bond is a function of three factors:
- The dollar amounts to be received in the future.
- Length of time until the amounts are received.
- The market rate of interest.
- The market interest rate is the rate investors demand for loaning funds to the corporation.
- The process of finding the present value is referred to as discounting the future amounts.
- A corporation records bond transactions when it issues or retires (buys back) bonds, and when bondholders convert bonds into common stock.
- If a bondholder sells a bond to another investor, the issuing firm receives no further money on the transaction, nor is the transaction journalized by the issuing corporation.
- Accounting for Bond issues - Bonds may be issued at face value, below face value (discount), or above face value (premium).
- Bond prices, for both new issues and existing bonds, are quoted as a percentage of the face value of the bond. Thus, a $1,000 bond with a quoted price of 97 sells at a price of ($1,000 X 97%) $970.
- Issuing Bonds at Face Value—To illustrate, assume that Devor Corporation issued 100, 5-year, 10%, $1,000 bonds dated January 1, 2007, at 100 (100% of face value). Assume interest is payable annually on January 1. The entry to record the sale is:
Jan. 1 ............Cash ............100,000
.............................Bonds Payable............. 100,000
(To record sale of bonds at face value)
The bonds are reported in the long-term liability section of the balance sheet because the maturity date is more than one year away.
The ad justing entry to record the accrued interest on December 31 is:
Dec. 3l ........Bond Interest Expense..... 10,000
.................................Bond Interest Payable........... 10,000
(To accrue bond interest)
Bond interest payable is classified as a current liability because it is scheduled for payment within the next year.
The entry to record the payment on January 1:
Jan. 1 ............Bond Interest Payable........ 10,000
(To record payment of bond interest)
- Discount or Premium on Bonds
- The contractual or stated interest rate is the rate applied to the face (par) to arrive at the amount of interest paid in a year.
- The market (effective) interest rate is the rate investors demand for loaning funds to the corporation.
- Bonds sell at face or par value only when the contractual (stated) interest rate and the market interest rate are the same. However, the market rates change daily.
- When the contractual and market interest rates differ, bonds sell below or above face value.
- Issuing Bonds at a Discount
Jan. 1 .............Cash ......................................98,000
- If the contractual interest rate is less than the market rate, bonds sell at a discount or at a price less than 100% of face value.
- Although Discount on Bonds Payable has a debit balance, it is not an asset; it is a contra account, which is deducted from bonds payable on the balance sheet.
- To illustrate bonds sold at a discount, assume that on January 1, 2007, Candlestick, Inc., sells $100,000, 5-year, 10% bonds at 98 (98% of face value) with interest payable on January 1. The entry to record the issuance is:
.......................Discount on Bonds Payable..... 2,000
...........................................Bonds Payable ....................100,000
(To record sale of bonds at a discount)
- The $98,000 represents the carrying amount of the bonds.
- The issuance of bonds below face value causes the total cost of borrowing to differ from the bond interest paid. The difference between the issuance price and the face value of the bonds—the discount—represents an additional cost of borrowing and should be recorded as bond interest expense over the life of the bond.
- The total cost of borrowing $98,000 for Candlestick, Inc. is $52,000 computed as follows:
Annual interest payments
($100,000 x 10% = $10,000; $10,000 x 5)..... = $50,000
Add: Bond discount ($100,000 - $98,000) .....= ....2,000
Total cost of borrowing ....................................$52,000
- To follow the matching principle, bond discount is allocated to expense in each period in which the bonds are outstanding. This is referred to as amortizing the discount.
- Amortization of the discount increases the amount of interest expense reported each period.
- As the discount is amortized, its balance will decline and as a consequence, the carrying value of the bonds will increase, until at maturity the carrying value of the bonds equals their face amount.
- Issuing Bonds at a Premium
- If the contractual interest rate is greater than the market rate, bonds sell at a premium or at a price greater than 100% of face value.
- To illustrate bonds sold at a premium, assume the Candlestick, Inc. bonds described before are sold at 102 (102% of face value) rather than 98. The entry to record the sale is:
Jan 1 .........Cash ....................102,000
.................................Bonds Payable ....................100,000
.................................Premium on Bonds Payable .....2,000
(To record sale of bonds at a premium)
- The premium on bonds payable is added to bonds payable on the balance sheet, as shown below:
................... Bonds payable ..................................$100,000
Add: Premium on bonds payable................................ 2,000
Bonds sold at a discount do not necessary imply the bonds are inferior. Also, bonds that are sold at a premium do not necessary imply the bonds are superior to the bonds that are sold at a discount.
- The sale of bonds above face value causes the total cost of borrowings to be less than the bond interest paid because the borrower is not required to repay the bond premium at the maturity date of the bonds. Thus, the premium is considered to be a reduction in the cost of borrowing that reduces bond interest expense over the life of the bonds.
- A bond premium, like a bond discount, is allocated to expense in each period in which the bonds are outstanding. This is referred to as amortizing the premium.
- Amortization of the premium decreases the amount of interest expense reported each period. That is, the amount of interest expense reported in a period will be less than the contractual amount.
- As the premium is amortized, its balance will decline and as a consequence, the carrying value of the bonds will decrease, until at maturity the carrying value of the bonds equals their face amount.
Procedures for amortizing bond premium and discount are discussed in Appendix 10A and Appendix 10B at the end of this chapter.
Study Objective 6 - Describe the Entries when Bonds are Redeemed
- Bonds are retired when they are purchased (redeemed) by the issuing corporation.
- Redeeming Bonds at Maturity
¨ Redeeming Bonds before Maturity
- Regardless of the issue price of bonds, the book value of the bonds at maturity will equal their face value.
- Assuming that the interest for the last interest period is paid and recorded separately, the interest to record the redemption of the Candlestick bonds at maturity is:
Bonds Payable ........................100,000
.............. Cash.......................................... 100,000
(To record redemption of bonds at maturity)
- A company may decide to retire bonds before maturity to reduce interest cost and remove debt from its balance sheet. A company should retire debt early only if it has sufficient cash resources.
- When bonds are retired before maturity, it is necessary to: (1) eliminate the carrying value of the bonds at the redemption date, (2) record the cash paid, and (3) recognize the gain or loss on redemption.
- The carrying value is the face value of the bonds less unamortized bond discount or plus unamortized bond premium at the redemption date.
- Assume at the end of the fourth period Candlestick, inc., having sold its bonds at a premium, retires its bonds at 103 after paying the annual interest. The carrying value of the bonds at the redemption date is $100,400. The entry to record the redemption of Candlestick's bonds at the end of the fourth interest period (January 1, 2011) is:
Jan. 1 Bonds Payable.................100,000
Premium on Bonds Payable............. 400
Loss on Bond Redemption............ 2,600
(To record redemption of bonds at 103)
- The loss of $2,600 is the difference between the cash paid of $103,000 and the carrying value, $100,400.
Study Ob jective 7 - Identify the Requirements for the Financial Statement Presentation and Analysis of Liabilities
- Balance Sheet Presentation
- Current liabilities are the first category under Liabilities on the balance sheet. Each of the principal types of current liabilities is listed separately within the category.
- Within the current liabilities section, companies usually list notes payable first, followed by accounts payable. Other items then follow in the order of their magnitude.
- The current maturities of long-term debt should be reported as current liabilities if they are to be paid from current assets.
- Long-term liabilities are reported in a separate section of the balance sheet immediately following “Current Liabilities.”
- Disclosure of debts is very important. Summary data regarding debts may be presented in the balance sheet with detailed data (such as interest rates, maturity dates, conversion privileges, and assets pledged as collateral) shown in a supporting schedule in the notes.
- Statement of Cash Flows Presentation
- Information regarding cash inflows and outflows that resulted from the principal portion of debt transactions is provided in the “Financing activities” section of the statement of cash flows.
- Interest expense is reported in the “Operating activities” section, even though it resulted from debt transactions.
Remind students that different industries have different capital structures and businesses within different industries have ratios that are quite different from the ones computed here.
- Careful examination of debt obligations helps assess a company’s ability to pay its current obligations. It also helps to determine whether a company can obtain long-term financing in order to grow.
- Liquidity ratios measure the short-term ability of a company to pay its maturing obligations and to meet unexpected needs for cash.
- A commonly used measure of liquidity is the current ratio (presented in Chapter 2), calculated as current assets divided by current liabilities.
- In recent years many companies have intentionally reduced their liquid assets (such as cash, accounts receivable, and inventory) because they cost too much to hold. Companies that keep fewer liquid assets on hand must rely on other sources of liquidity.
- One such source is a bank line of credit—a prearranged agreement between a company and a lender that permits the company to borrow up to an agreed-upon amount.
- Solvency ratios measure the ability of a company to survive over a long period of time.
Although at one time there were many U. S. automobile manufacturers, only two U.S. based firms survive today. Many of the others went bankrupt. To reduce risks associated with having a large amount of debt during an economic downturn, U.S. automobile manufacturers have taken two precautionary steps.
- They have built up large balances of cash and cash equivalents to avoid a cash crisis.
- They have been reluctant to build new plants or hire new workers to meet their production needs. Instead, they have asked existing workers to work overtime, or they “outsource” work to other companies.
- One measure of a company’ solvency is the debt to total assets ratio (Chapter 2), calculated as total liabilities divided by total assets. This ratio indicates the extent to which a company’s debt could be repaid by liquidating its assets.
- Another useful measure is the times interest earned ratio, which provides an indication of a company’s ability to meet interest payments as they come due, computed by dividing income before interest expense and income taxes by interest expense.
- Other Analysis Issues: Unrecorded Debt
- A concern for analysts when they evaluate a company’s liquidity and solvency is whether that company has properly recorded all of its obligations.
- The bankruptcy of Enron Corporation, one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history, demonstrates how much damage can result when a company does not properly record or disclose all of its obligations.
- A company’s balance sheet may not fully reflect its actual obligations due to “off-balance-sheet financing”—an attempt to borrow funds in such a way that the obligations are not recorded. Two common types of off-balance-sheet financing result from contingencies and lease transactions.
- A company’s balance sheet may not fully reflect its potential obligations due to contingencies—events with uncertain outcomes.
- Accounting rules require that companies disclose contingencies in the notes; in some cases they must accrue them as liabilities.
- A lawsuit is an example of a contingent liability.
- If the company can determine a reasonable estimate of the expected loss and if it is probable it will lose a lawsuit, the company should accrue for the loss.
- The loss is recorded by increasing (debiting) a loss account and increasing (crediting) a liability such as Lawsuit Liability.
- If both conditions are not met, the company discloses the basic facts regarding the suit in the footnotes to its financial statements.
- One very common type of off-balance-sheet financing results from lease transactions.
- In an operating lease the intent is temporary use of the property by the lessee with continued ownership of the property by the lessor.
- In some cases, the lease contract transfers substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership to the lessee, so that the lease is in effect, a purchase of the property. This type of lease is called a capital lease.
- Most lessees do not like to report leases on their balance sheets because the lease liability increases the company's total liabilities. Companies attempt to keep leased assets and lease liabilities off the balance sheet by structuring thelease agreement to avoid meeting the criteria of a capital lease.
- Critics of off-balance-sheet financing contend that many leases represent unavoidable obligations that meet the definition of a liability, and therefore companies should report them as liabilities on the balance sheet.
- To reduce these concerns, companies are required to report in a note their operating lease obligations for subsequent years. This allows analysts and other financial statement users to ad just a company’s financial statements by adding leased assets and lease liabilities if they feel that this treatment is more appropriate.
Appendix 10A – Apply the Straight-Line Method of Amortizing Bond Discount and Premium.
- Amortizing Bond Discount
- To follow the matching principle, bond discount should be allocated to expense in each period in which the bonds are outstanding.
- The straight-line method of amortization allocates the same amount of interest expense in each interest period.
- In the Candlestick, Inc. example, the company sold $100,000, 5-year, 10% bonds on January 1, 2007, for $98,000. Interest is payable on January 1. The $2,000 bond discount ($100,000 - $98,000) amortization is $400 ($2,000 ¸ 5) for each of the five amortization periods.
- The entry to record the accrual of bond interest and the amortization of bond discount on the first interest date (December 31) is:
Dec. 31 Bond Interest Expense ...........10,400
....................Discount on Bonds Payable..................... 400
....................Bond Interest Payable .........................10,000
(To record accrued bond interest and amortization of bond discount)
- Over the term of the bonds, the balance in Discount on Bonds Payable will decrease annually by the same amount until it has a zero balance at the maturity date of the bonds.
- Thus, the carrying value of the bonds at maturity will be equal to the face value of the bonds.
- Amortizing Bond Premium
- The amortization of bond premium parallels that of bond discount.
- Continuing the Candlestick, Inc. example, assume the bonds are sold for $102,000, rather than $98,000. This results in a bond premium of $2,000 ($100,000 - $102,000). The premium amortization for each interest period is $400 ($2,000 ¸ 5). The entry to record the first accrual of interest on December 31 is:
Dec. 31 Bond Interest Expense................. 9,600
.............Premium on Bonds Payable.............400
............................Bond Interest Payable...................... 10,000
(To record accrued bond interest and amortization of bond premium)
- Over the term of the bonds, the balance in Premium on Bonds Payable will decrease annually by the same amount until it has a zero balance at maturity.
- The carrying value of the bond decreases $400 each period until it reaches its face value of $100,000 at the end of period five.
Appendix 10B – Apply the Effective-Interest Method of Amortizing Bond Discount and Bond Premium.
- Long-term notes payable
- Are similar to short-term interest-bearing notes payable except that the terms of the notes exceed one year.
- May be secured by a document called a mortgage that pledges title to specific assets as security for a loan.
- Mortgage notes payable are widely used in the purchase of homes by individuals and in the acquisition of plant assets by many companies. Like some other long-term notes payable, the mortgage may stipulate either a fixed or an ad justable interest rate.
- Typically, the terms require the borrower to make installment payments over the term of the loan with each payment consisting of (1) interest on the unpaid balance of the loan and (2) a reduction of loan principle.
- The interest decreases each period, while the portion applied to the loan principal increases.
- Mortgage notes are recorded initially at face value, and entries are required subsequently for each installment payment.
- In the balance sheet, the reduction in principal for the next year is reported as a current liability, and the remaining unpaid principal balance is classified as a long-term liability.