With cash accounting, the transaction wouldn't be recorded until cash changes hands. Another example of a liability is money owed to a bank or an employee.

A common form of cookie jar accounting is to "recognize" or state a liability when the company in fact has not incurred a liability. For example, company executives may say they plan to reorganize ...

The 20th anniversary of the Bill Birkett Memorial Lecture at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) shone a spotlight on the new concept of e-liability accounting. E-liability accounting enables ...

As noted above, a company's deferred long-term liability charges appear as one-line items on its balance sheet. As such, there is normally no indication about what these charges entail.

By David Reilly Jan. 19, 2007 12:01 am ET Share ...