Elena Prisacari
What's the difference between debt and liability? Please help me choose the correct word in these sentences: Money that a person or company owes is debt/liability. The word debts/liabilities, when used in the plural and in a formal context, has the same meaning but it can also have a wider meaning of 'legal responsibilities.
Oct 26, 2019 7:10 PM
Answers · 5
1
From an accounting point of view, a debt is something that you owe because you have borrowed. A liability is anything that you owe or will owe. A debt is a liability, but not all liabilities are debts. For example, if a business owes taxes, that is a liability. It is not a debt. 'liability' can also be used outside of accounting to simply mean anything that is a negative. He's brilliant but his tendency to drink too much is a liability.
October 27, 2019
1
Debt can be countable or uncountable. A liability in accounting language is a debt, or a debt is a liability. Debt can be singular or plural. = A debt [singular] to one other party, or it can be debts [plural] to one other part or many plural parties. A liability is not always a debt it can be a financial risk or investment you either voluntarily take upon yourself or find yourself in due to a change in fortune, bad advice or bad investing or gambles that did not pay off. Yes liability can and does have a wider meaning of legal responsibilities even social moral and ethical liabilities.
October 26, 2019
1
Debt - is money that you owe / Liability - is a possible financial risk that can cause you to lose money. Debt is uncountable / liability can be pluralized ( liabilities )
October 26, 2019
1
Money that a person or company owes is debt. The word liabilities, when used in the plural and in a formal context, has the same meaning but it can also have a wider meaning of 'legal responsibilities.
October 26, 2019
1
In that first sentence it has to be debt but only because debt can be used there without an article and because they are making a comparison between the two concepts. In that first sentence you could also say “a liability” and it would mean the same thing. I’m not an accountant but liability is the more general term in a financial context. A debt is a liability but there are non-debt liabilities in an accounting sense such as accounts payable. Debt is typically borrowing money through a contract. Liability can also have meaning such as a legal liability, that is not a debt. So the short answer is the second one is “liabilities”.
October 26, 2019
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