Introduction to Reporting Long-Term Liabilities

What you will learn to do: Illustrate proper reporting of long-term liabilities

You may have noticed that, much like with assets, certain categories can include both non-current and current liabilities. In the assets section of the balance sheet, we saw that some investments could be current and some non-current. In the liabilities section, we see that long-term debt includes a current portion, and you can see that below on the liabilities section of the balance sheet for Ford Motor Company for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.

Notice, too, Ford presents their comparative report with the current year in the rightmost column, unlike many of the other companies we’ve observed so far, that show the most current year in the leftmost column. GAAP doesn’t go into that much detail in prescribing the presentation, but most companies show newest to oldest from left to right.

FORD MOTOR COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in millions)
Description December 31, 2018 December 31, 2019
Subcategory, LIABILITIES
Payables $     21,520 $     20,673
Other liabilities and deferred revenue (Note 17) 20,556 22,987
Automotive debt payable within one year (Note 20) 2,314 1,445
Other debt payable within one year (Note 20) 130
Liabilities held for sale (Note 24) 526
      Total current liabilities Single line
95,569
Single line
98,132
Other liabilities and deferred revenue (Note 17) 23,588 25,324
Automotive long-term debt (Note 20) 11,233 13,233
Other long-term debt (Note 20) 600 470
      Total liabilities Single line
220,474
Single line
225,307

 
Also, notice that Ford makes reference to the footnotes for each line item of both current and non-current liabilities, and in this section, you’ll be studying both the presentation of long-term debt and other liabilities and the disclosures that go with them.