The assets of the enterprise are equal. Assets and liabilities in life

Trading on the stock market (as well as on any other market) requires a certain preliminary analysis of the financial instruments being traded. For example, purchasing shares requires at a minimum an assessment of the issuing company based on such basic criteria as profit for the last reporting year, the ratio of the real value to the company’s market capitalization, etc. You don’t want to face another soap bubble or invest your money in another financial pyramid?

When starting to analyze the issuing company of shares being considered for purchase, a trader inevitably encounters such concepts as its assets and liabilities. These terms, which are very familiar to any accountant, are sometimes incomprehensible to many, especially novice traders trading in the stock market. Meanwhile, without these concepts it is impossible to conduct a high-quality fundamental analysis and assess the attractiveness of the shares of a particular company as an investment object. I suggest you now spend 5 minutes of your time to fill this annoying gap in your knowledge.

Let's start briefly. In simple terms, assets include all tangible (premises, equipment, working capital, etc.) and intangible (trademark, intellectual property, etc.) property of the company. And liabilities include all the company’s obligations (debt on a loan or overdraft, etc.).

Assets and liabilities represent the two halves of a company's balance sheet, and ideally they should balance each other out to form a balance sheet.

And now more details. Let's look at each of these concepts separately, take them apart, and then put them back together.

Company assets

This is the left side of the company's balance sheet. This is where everything that it actually possesses and from which it can derive economic benefit is displayed.

According to the interpretation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), assets include all those resources of a company over which control was obtained in the past, and economic benefits from them are expected in the future.

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) recognize three essential characteristics of assets:

The company's assets allow it to receive, in the long term, economic benefits due to its potential (both each asset separately and their combination with each other). And this, in turn, leads to an increase in net cash flows;
The company can not only benefit from the use of a particular asset, but also control it;
The event (transaction) that led to the company's control over the benefit from the asset has already occurred.

Excerpt from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

The company's assets can be classified into the following categories:

By nature of use in the current activities of the company:

Negotiable;
Non-negotiable.

By form:

Material;
Intangible;
Financial.

By degree of liquidity:

Highly liquid;
Low liquidity;
Illiquid.

By source of formation:

Gross;
Clean.

In addition, the following categories of assets can be distinguished separately:

Hidden assets;
Imaginary assets.

Current assets include those that are used to maintain the daily functionality of the company. These include that part of inventory that is consumed in current production, accounts receivable, as well as simply cash used for current mutual settlements.

Non-current assets do not participate in the current activities of the company; they are withdrawn from circulation, but are reflected in the company’s balance sheet. These include long-term financial investments (the payback period of which is in the relatively distant future), various intangible assets, etc.

All assets that have a material form are called tangible. This is everything that you can literally touch with your hands: office furniture, production facilities, equipment, tools, computers, etc., etc.

Intangible assets, accordingly, are called everything that, although it exists in fact (and costs some money), but does not have any material form. This is, for example, a trademark or company brand, patents, intellectual property.

Financial assets include, first of all, the money itself held in company accounts or invested in various types of financial instruments (stocks, bonds, etc.). Accounts receivable also fall into this category.

The degree of liquidity implies the speed with which a particular asset can be converted into cash (at a price close to the market price). Money itself, a priori, is an asset with the highest degree of liquidity. Next, according to the degree of liquidity, there are various securities (stocks, bonds). Buildings and equipment are mostly low-liquid assets, i.e. Of course, they can be turned into money if desired, but this will either take too much time, or the transaction will be completed at a deliberately unfavorable price (assets will be sold at a price much lower than their market value). Well, illiquid assets include those that are either fundamentally impossible to sell, or it would be very difficult to do so even at a known low price.

Net assets include only those that were formed exclusively from the company’s own funds. Whereas, gross assets are those in the formation of which, in addition to their own, borrowed funds were also used.

Hidden assets are assets that are not reflected in the company’s balance sheet, but nevertheless provide it with certain advantages and economic benefits. Their absence from the balance sheet may be explained, for example, by write-off or by the fact that, according to current legislation, they cannot be subject to accounting. This kind of non-accounting leads to an understatement of the book value of the enterprise relative to the real value of its assets.

Imaginary assets are those that, on the contrary, are reflected in the company’s balance sheet, but in fact they are absent or do not provide it with any economic benefit (or this benefit is very small compared to the value of the asset itself). The existence of this type of asset is explained by untimely write-off or even outright fraudulent activity with the aim of artificially inflating the book value of the company.

Company liabilities

This is the right side of the company's balance sheet. As opposed to assets, this category refers to all the liabilities assumed by the enterprise.

Otherwise, liabilities are also called the source of formation of enterprise assets. To illustrate this clearly, let's look at a simple example. Let’s assume that an enterprise took out a hundred million rubles on credit for its development. The accountant wrote down in the “liabilities” column - the obligation to the bank to repay the loan taken. After this, the funds were used for the turnover of the enterprise (for the purchase of raw materials, expansion of the equipment fleet, etc.) and the accountant recorded the purchased raw materials and equipment as assets of the enterprise. So liabilities became the source of assets.

All liabilities can be divided into:

Current liabilities;
Long-term debts;
Long term duties.

Current liabilities are those obligations that must be repaid in the next year.

Long-term debts are obligations whose maturity exceeds one year. These include the company’s obligations on long-term bonds issued to it, as well as, for example, on the repayment of a long-term loan taken from a third-party financial institution.

Long-term liabilities include what the company will have to pay to the government (in the form of deferred taxes), its employees and landlords (if leased property is used).

A liability is a company's debt arising as a result of its administrative and economic activities and existing at the reporting date, the repayment of which should lead to an outflow of assets.

Excerpt from “The Concept of Accounting in the Russian Market Economy”

In addition, all the company’s liabilities can be divided into:

Imaginary obligations;
Hidden obligations.

Imaginary obligations are those that, although they appear in the accounting records, in fact, there is no longer any debt on them. That is, they do not lead to an outflow of company assets. The presence of such obligations is usually due to the fact that the fact of their repayment was not reflected on time in the company's balance sheet. Their accounting leads to an overestimation of the amount of liabilities, and, consequently, to an underestimation of the amount of the enterprise’s net assets.

Hidden are those obligations of a company that, on the contrary, for some reason were not reflected in the company’s accounting records, despite the fact of their existence. Accounting for such liabilities can lead to an underestimation of the amount of liabilities and an overestimation of the amount of the enterprise's net assets.

Accounting is a kind of information system, the main task of which is to display information about the economic activities of an enterprise for the purpose of its further analysis and making management decisions. are basic accounting concepts. In this article we will explain what these terms mean and why they are so important.

As you know, one of the main accounting documents of an enterprise is the balance sheet, which has sections “asset” and “liability”. The “asset” section displays all the property owned by the company - basic low-value items, money in accounts and cash, accounts receivable, etc. All assets are the property of the enterprise and are recorded on the balance sheet after they undergo an assessment procedure that differs for each type of property.

Obviously, no property can be acquired free of charge, without the use of any funds. That is why the “liabilities” section includes all sources of formation. These sources can be divided into two large groups: the capital of the enterprise (amounts of money and the value of property provided by the founders as initial contributions) and its liabilities - accounts payable, debts for settlements with suppliers, authorities and hired employees.

Now let's try to figure out why the main document is called “balance sheet”? Why is the balance sheet of assets and liabilities so important? To understand this, oddly enough, the physical law of conservation of matter will help, the main essence of which can be conveyed by the phrase “nothing appears from nowhere and nothing disappears into nowhere.” In relation to accounting, the acquisition of any property as an asset should entail a corresponding change in liability. Let's say that a company receives money as a loan, on the one hand, it will appear in the asset item “cash on account”, but also in the liability item “accounts payable”. If other assets are then purchased for this money, for example, shares, then there will be a transfer between the items “money in the account” and “financial investments”, but the asset and liability of the balance sheet will still be equivalent. It is this equivalence that shows that all reporting is drawn up correctly and there are no errors in displaying the business activities of the company.

Thus, an asset and a liability are, in fact, two sides of the same coin, only the asset shows the side that relates only to the acquisition and ownership of property, and the liability shows the side that is associated with the source through which the company receives new property. Maintaining equality of assets and liabilities is an important task for any accountant, since the discrepancy between the two sections of the balance sheet shows that it was compiled with an error. Finding an error in the balance sheet is quite simple - just find the difference between an asset and a liability, and divide this amount by two. The resulting figure will be the sum of the error, mistakenly entered in the wrong section. True, this method is effective only if only one mistake is made - otherwise the search for inconsistencies can take a long time, and the preparation of the document may have to start all over again.

We hope that we have provided readers with comprehensive information about what an asset and a liability are. Remember, the equality of the two sections of the balance sheet is the main and main sign of proper accounting in an enterprise. We wish you that the asset and liability in your balance sheets always match penny to penny!!!

The concepts of asset and liability are the main components of the balance sheet of an organization, which summarizes materials about the activities and economic situation of the enterprise. Let us consider in more detail what the sections and items of the balance sheet show, as well as what is reflected in the assets and liabilities of the balance sheet.

The sections of the enterprise's balance sheet are shown in tabular form: the left side is Asset, the right side is Liability.

To submit Form 1 of the financial statements to the Federal Tax Service, according to Order of the Ministry of Finance dated July 2, 2016 N 66n, the balance sheet of the enterprise is detailed by item. Detailing by item allows you to highlight the main types of property and liabilities of the enterprise.

In essence, balance sheet items are indicators of assets and liabilities of the balance sheet, which characterize economic assets and sources of formation by individual types. Using the list of balance sheet items, you can always obtain summary indicators for the statements for analyzing the financial activities of the enterprise.

To fill out data on balance sheet items, enterprises use the balances in their accounting accounts as of the reporting date, in accordance with PBU 4/99.

An important rule when drawing up a balance sheet for an enterprise is that the amount of an asset should always be equal to the amount of a liability.

Get 267 video lessons on 1C for free:

The assets of the enterprise's balance sheet reflect the following economic assets:

fixed assets on account 01;
intangible assets on account 04;
investments in non-current assets on accounts 07 and 08;
accounts receivable on accounts 62; 76; 73, etc.;
financial investments on account 08;
inventories on accounts 10; 26; 41; 43, etc.;
cash in accounts 50; 51; 52; 55, etc.

The liability side of the enterprise’s balance sheet shows the sources of formation of economic assets:

profit on accounts 84 and 99;
authorized capital on account 80;
reserve capital on account 82;
additional capital on account 83;
long-term loans and borrowings on account 67;
short-term loans on account 66;
accounts payable on accounts 60; 76; 70; 68 and 69.

It is important to note that the assets and liabilities of the balance sheet reflect different aspects of accounting for economic assets; they are interrelated. That is, when an asset increases by a certain amount, it is necessary to increase the liability by the same amount. This principle of increasing amounts also applies to liabilities.

How are the assets and liabilities of the balance sheet formed?

Let's look at it in more detail using an example.

Example 1. Let's say an enterprise purchased a fixed asset worth 500,000 rubles. for the production of semi-finished products.

Fixed assets are reflected in the asset, that is, the amount of the enterprise’s asset increased by 500,000 rubles. The other side is that you need to pay the supplier 500,000 rubles for the fixed asset. The debt to the supplier is reflected in the liability, that is, the company's liability also increased by 500,000 rubles. Therefore, the main condition is met: Active = Passive

Example 2. Let’s say an enterprise has taken out a loan from a bank in the amount of 750,000 rubles.

The enterprise's debt to the bank is reflected in the liability, that is, the enterprise's liability increased by 750,000 rubles. The other side is that after transferring the received loan, the amount in the current account increased by 750,000 rubles. Cash in the company's current account is reflected in the asset, that is, the company's asset increased by 750,000 rubles. Therefore, the main condition is met: Active = Passive

Conclusion: Assets participate in the economic activities of the enterprise to generate profit, and liabilities are sources of increasing assets, and must always be equal.

Any organization has property - buildings, funds, equipment, product inventories. All this constitutes the assets of the enterprise, the assessment of which allows one to judge the financial condition, conduct business activities, formulate budget policy and redistribute resources to increase profitability.

Definition

To give a simple definition, assets are the property and property rights owned by a company, its cash reserves and intellectual property that generates profit. From an economic point of view, assets are funds obtained externally or as a result of the operation of an enterprise and used to generate profit. In other words, these are resources - everything that the company has at its disposal.

According to the order of the Ministry of Finance, a unified form of accounting for assets and liabilities has been developed in Russia - the balance sheet of an enterprise. All assets are included in one of two sections of the document.

Structure and types

The resources of enterprises are structured by form, speed of turnover, use in activities, sources of funds, ownership, and sales opportunities. There are different approaches to classifying assets, which allow us to understand their significance for the organization from different points of view.

In accounting

There are non-current and current assets, which is how they are divided in accounting. They differ in terms of use (negotiable ones are used for a year, non-current ones - more than 12 months).

Non-current assets are divided into intangible (not having physical expression) and tangible (for example, fixed assets). Current assets are highly liquid resources: they include cash, inventories, short-term investments, etc. The item-by-item structure of resources is reflected in the balance sheet assets.

From an economic point of view

The resources of enterprises and companies can also be classified into pure, financial, illiquid/liquid, short-term/long-term, non-productive, information.

Net are the total assets owned by the organization and belonging only to it. Their value is determined as the sum of all resources available to the enterprise minus borrowed funds:

Net assets = Assets on balance sheet - Borrowed capital

Assets can be divided by liquidity — speed of converting them into money:

absolutely liquid – funds in national and foreign currencies, cash and in current accounts;
highly liquid – those that can be converted into money within a period of no more than 30 days, without practically losing their value on the market (short-term investments and debts of debtors);
medium-liquid - converted into money within a month to six months (not short-term and not hopeless receivables, products in warehouse);
weakly liquid and illiquid – have a long sales period; This subgroup includes fixed assets, dismantled equipment, and bad receivables.

According to the turnover rate in economic activity, assets are divided into:

Short-term - these are funds necessary for the ongoing operation of the organization. They can be monetary and ensure the operation of the enterprise (for example, unfinished production, shipped products or goods), and have a quick turnover.
Long-term are the resources of an enterprise that are listed on the organization’s balance sheet for a long time. Their main characteristic is that the cost of these funds changes as they are used and determines the price of products and profitability. Their composition is shown in the following figure.

According to the degree of participation in production, assets are divided into production and non-production. Production ones are directly used in the creation of finished products (equipment, materials, etc.). Non-production assets are listed on the balance sheet, but are not involved in the production of goods (for example, office buildings).

Financial assets are often included in a separate group of assets. They include cash and money in bank accounts, securities, shares of other enterprises, accounts, obligations of other organizations to pay for products received, and other financial instruments.

Information assets are intended to organize the production process. They also bring profit to the company. These include intellectual property rights, inventions, patents, documented knowledge, industrial experience, trademarks, trademarks, and computer programs.

In international financial reporting

The criteria for reflecting assets in international practice are somewhat different from Russian ones. The key point is how the asset is recognized. In Russian practice, assets are what belongs to an organization by right of ownership. At the same time, not all resources that generate profit must necessarily be owned by the company. For example, if she leases equipment or a building, then such property is not shown as an asset on the balance sheet. In the international practice of preparing financial statements, the principle of qualitative assessment of an object applies: whether it is under the control of the organization, how it is used and how it affects its solvency.

In this regard, there are a number of specific concepts that are rarely used in Russian practice:

Monetary assets are those funds and rights to obligations that have a certain value that does not change as prices change. This is directly cash in hand and amounts in the current account, some bonds, accounts receivable.
Non-monetary resources are objects and rights, the real value of which is revalued over time and with changes in prices: fixed assets, inventories, finished products in warehouses, obligations expressed in the supply of products in kind.
Long-term assets held for sale. In international accounting, a separate group is allocated to those resources that will not be used in commercial activities, but acquired for subsequent sale.

Valuation of assets on the balance sheet

Balance sheet is a document reflecting the presence and condition of the organization’s assets, their itemized and total value (the latter is entered in line 1600). By analyzing the value and structure of assets, one can draw a conclusion about the success of the enterprise, its ability to fulfill its obligations and make a profit.

Many indicators are used for analysis, some of which are discussed below.

Cost and average value of total assets

The cost of resources is an assessment, expressed in monetary terms, of the property of an enterprise that generates income or can generate it in the future. It consists of two positions: the amount of current and non-current assets (in the balance sheet these are lines 1100 and 1200, respectively). Thus, the value of total assets is determined as the sum of lines 1100 and 1200. In other words, this is the balance sheet currency: the total for the assets section, line 1600.

The average value of total resources (ASA) of an organization is found as the arithmetic mean between the value at the beginning of the year (A 1) and at the end of the year (A 2). This is written as a formula:

SSA = (A 1 + A 2)/2

To calculate the average annual cost, the same principle is applied: indicators are taken as of one accounting period, but from the balance sheets of different years. The divisor will be equal to the number of years under study (if for two years - 2, if for three - 3, etc.). The average indicators for current and non-current resources are calculated similarly.

Real assets ratio

Real assets include intangible assets, fixed assets, inventories (production) and costs in work in progress - everything that is involved in commercial activities. For analysis, a ratio is usually used - the ratio of the total value of real assets to their total value on the balance sheet. A successful manufacturing company should have a value above 0.5 (50%). Decrease means a drop in production capacity or a transfer of the enterprise to other, non-core activities.

Immobilization of assets means their withdrawal from circulation. That is, the share of assets that are not involved in turnover and do not generate income, or are used for other purposes than their intended purpose, is assessed. The immobilization coefficient shows how efficiently the enterprise's resources are used. The indicator reflecting the state of immobilized funds is calculated as the ratio between the permanent (non-current) and current (current) assets of the enterprise.

The lower this indicator, the more liquid resources the enterprise has and, accordingly, the higher its solvency.

Permanent asset index ratio

Constant assets are those recorded in the first part of the enterprise's balance sheet, i.e., funds that are not in circulation. The index of permanent assets shows what part of them the company maintains at the expense of its own capital or what part of its own funds consists of assets whose sale is difficult. Its value is determined by dividing all non-current assets (position 1100 in the balance sheet) by the company’s own resources (1300):

IPA = non-current assets/equity

The normal value of this coefficient is from zero to one. Its increase indicates the risk of deterioration in the financial position of the enterprise.

Description of the company's assets in simple words

In other words, it is property. Those. everything that an enterprise has in stock, which can be felt with the touch of a hand: cash savings, securities, buildings, premises, cars, instruments, machines, goods, finished products and other tangible and intangible assets.

It should be noted that assets can be tangible or intangible.

In the first case, we are talking about a reserve of funds, as well as other financial instruments, which can be made deposits in cash equivalent, cash on hand, shares (securities), an insurance policy and, directly, monetary assets that can be presented in any currency.
Regarding intangible assets, these include primarily non-monetary assets that do not have a physical form. This category includes the company's intellectual property (logo, registered trademark, invention patents) and even the company's general business reputation.

According to the degree of direct participation of assets in a particular production cycle, they can be divided into current and.

The first applies to the tendency according to which assets diverge completely within one cycle. At the same time, they are able to ensure all operational activities of the company.
Non-current assets, in turn, are sold gradually. This happens over several separate production cycles. The cycle of non-current assets ends when their full value is transferred to manufactured products.

The assets of an enterprise can also be classified according to the source of formation, as well as the level of liquidity. The process of forming net assets is carried out exclusively at the expense of equity capital, while gross assets are also carried out with the help of borrowed funds. The available capital also takes a direct part in the formative process.

As for grouping by liquidity level, in this case assets can be illiquid, low-liquid, medium-liquid and highly liquid.

This is necessary in order to obtain high profits. Assets with a high level of liquidity will be considered funds that are in the current accounts of an organization or in the cash register of an enterprise during a specific period of time.

The assets and liabilities of an individual organization, through interaction with each other, can have a direct impact on the overall financial condition of the enterprise and determine the level of its solvency. This leads to a conclusion about the competitiveness of the company and its ability to maintain its position in the market for a specific period of time.