The Basic Accounting Equation

The basic accounting equation

The Basic Accounting Equation

The two basic elements of a business are what it owns and what it owes. Assets are the resources a business owns. For example, Google has total assets of approximately $40.5 billion. Liabilities and owner’s equity are the rights or claims against these resources. Thus, Google has $40.5 billion of claims against its $40.5 billion of assets. Claims of those to whom the company owes money (creditors) are called liabilities. Claims of owners are called owner’s equity. Google has liabilities of $4.5 billion and owners’ equity of $36 billion.

We can express the relationship of assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity as an equation, this relationship is the basic accounting equation. Assets must equal the sum of liabilities and owner’s equity. Liabilities appear before owner’s equity in the basic accounting equation because they are paid first if a business is liquidated.

The accounting equation applies to all economic entities regardless of size, nature of business, or form of business organization. It applies to a small proprietorship such as a corner grocery store as well as to a giant corporation such as PepsiCo. The equation provides the underlying framework for recording and summarizing economic events.