Current liabilities are debt obligations that are due within one year. Some examples of current liabilities that appear on the balance sheet include accounts payable, payroll liabilities, accrued expenses, short-term notes payable, income taxes and interest payable, accrued interest, payroll taxes, utilities, rental fees and other debts. They can be settled with current assets or by swapping one current liability for another one.
For example, company ABC has current liabilities that include accounts payable of $38,000, accrued wages of $90,000, accrued expenses of $67,000, rental fees of $240,000, loans of $50,000 and other debts of $56,000.
In Microsoft Excel, you can create a list of these current liabilities. Type “Current Liabilities” in cell A1, then “Accounts Payable,” “Accrued Wages,” “Accrued Expenses,” “Rental Fees,” “Loans” and “Other Debts” in the cells below cell A1. In cell B1, enter the year for which you are calculating the total current liabilities. In cell B2, enter “38000” next to cell A2 where you labeled “Accounts Payable.” In cell B3, enter “90000” next to cell A3 where you entered “Accrued Wages.” Do the same for the other amounts of the current liabilities listed above. To calculate the amount of total current liabilities, label cell A7 as “Total Current Liabilities” and select cell B7 and enter “=SUM(B2:B7)” into the formula bar, thereby adding up the current liabilities listed and giving you the total amount for that year. You can do this for multiple years and compare whether the company’s liabilities have been increasing or decreasing.