Accounting Equation Overview, Formula, and Examples

The accounting equation states that the amount of assets must be equal to liabilities plus shareholder or owner equity. There are different categories of business assets including long-term assets, capital assets, investments and tangible assets. They were acquired by borrowing money from lenders, receiving cash from owners and shareholders or offering goods or services. The assets have been decreased by $696 but liabilities have decreased by $969 which must have caused the accounting equation to go out of balance. In our examples below, we show how a given transaction affects the accounting equation. We also show how the same transaction affects specific accounts by providing the journal entry that is used to record the transaction in the company’s general ledger.

What are assets?

Examples of assets include cash, accounts receivable, inventory, prepaid insurance, investments, land, buildings, equipment, and goodwill. From the accounting equation, we see that the amount of assets must equal the combined amount of liabilities plus owner’s (or stockholders’) equity. The balance sheet is also known as the statement of financial position and it reflects the accounting equation. The balance sheet reports a company’s assets, liabilities, and owner’s (or stockholders’) equity at a specific point in time. Like the accounting equation, it shows that a company’s total amount of assets equals the total amount of liabilities plus owner’s (or stockholders’) how to pay independent contractors and remote employees equity.

Accounting Equation Formula and Calculation

In other words, the total amount of all assets will always equal the sum of liabilities and shareholders’ equity. Essentially, the representation equates all uses of capital (assets) to all sources of capital, where debt capital leads to liabilities and equity capital leads to shareholders’ equity. Equity refers to the owner’s interest in the business or their claims on assets after all liabilities are subtracted. The accounting equation shows the amount of resources available to a business on the left side (Assets) and those who have a claim on those resources on the right side (Liabilities + Equity).

The double-entry practice ensures that the accounting equation always remains balanced, meaning that the left-side value of the equation will always match the right-side value. They include items such as land, buildings, equipment, and accounts receivable. It is the key to ensuring that each transaction which reflects a debit will always have its corresponding entry on the credit side.

Example Transaction #8: Payment of Accounts Payable

Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling. Non-current assets or liabilities are those that cannot be converted easily into cash, typically within a year, that is. Current assets and liabilities can be converted into cash within one year.

1. If you’re still unsure why the accounting equation just has to balance, the following example shows how the accounting equation remains in balance even after the effects of several transactions are accounted for.
2. A debit refers to an increase in an asset or a decrease in a liability or shareholders’ equity.
3. Examples of assets include cash, accounts receivable, inventory, prepaid insurance, investments, land, buildings, equipment, and goodwill.
4. The accounting equation is a factor in almost every aspect of your business accounting.

Long-term liabilities are usually owed to lending institutions and include notes payable and possibly unearned revenue. Under all circumstances, each transaction must have a dual effect on the accounting transaction. For instance, if an asset increases, there must be a corresponding decrease in another asset or an increase in a specific liability or stockholders’ equity item. Assets pertain to the things that the business owns that have monetary value. Examples of assets include, but are not limited to, cash, equipment, and accounts receivable.

Only after debts are settled are shareholders entitled to any of the company’s assets to attempt to recover their investment. The accounting equation is a concise expression of the complex, expanded, and multi-item display of a balance sheet. The accounting equation is something that must be understood thoroughly by those who deal with money and those who want to ensure they are making the best decisions financially. The accounting equation matters because keeping track of each transaction’s corresponding entry on each side is essential for keeping records accurate. To illustrate how the accounting equation works, let us analyze the transactions of a fictitious corporation, First Shop, Inc.

The accounting equation is fundamental to the double-entry bookkeeping practice. These are some simple examples, but even the most complicated transactions can be recorded in a similar way. However, equity can also be thought of as investments into the company either by founders, owners, public shareholders, or by customers buying products leading to higher revenue. Think of liabilities  as obligations — the company has an obligation to make payments on loans or mortgages or they risk damage to their credit and business.

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What Is Shareholders’ Equity in the Accounting Equation?

So whatever the worth of assets and liabilities of a business are, the owners’ equity will always be the remaining amount (total assets MINUS total liabilities) that keeps the accounting equation in balance. All assets owned by a business are acquired with the funds supplied either by creditors or by owner(s). In other words, we can say that the value of assets in a business is always equal to the sum of the value of liabilities and owner’s equity.

The accounting equation’s left side represents everything a business has (assets), and the right side shows what a business owes to creditors and owners (liabilities and equity). The income and retained earnings of the accounting equation is also an essential component in computing, understanding, and analyzing a firm’s income statement. This statement reflects profits and losses that are themselves determined by the calculations that make up the basic accounting equation. In other words, this equation allows businesses to determine revenue as well as prepare a statement of retained earnings.

Like any mathematical equation, the accounting equation can be rearranged and expressed in terms of liabilities or owner’s equity instead of assets. Before capitalized cost explaining what this means and why the accounting equation should always balance, let’s review the meaning of the terms assets, liabilities, and owners’ equity. That part of the accounting system which contains the balance sheet and income statement accounts used for recording transactions. Although the balance sheet always balances out, the accounting equation can’t tell investors how well a company is performing.