What's the difference between assets and liabilities?

Assets


Definition:

  • (n. pl.) Property of a deceased person, subject by law to the payment of his debts and legacies; -- called assets because sufficient to render the executor or administrator liable to the creditors and legatees, so far as such goods or estate may extend.
  • (n. pl.) Effects of an insolvent debtor or bankrupt, applicable to the payment of debts.
  • (n. pl.) The entire property of all sorts, belonging to a person, a corporation, or an estate; as, the assets of a merchant or a trading association; -- opposed to liabilities.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A statement from the company said it had assigned all its assets for the benefit of creditors, in accordance with Massachusetts' law.
  • (2) The surge the prime minister talks about can only be achieved by coordinating assets across 43 forces.
  • (3) I believe that truth sets man free.” It was a curious stance for someone who spent many years undercover as a counter-espionage informant, a government propagandist, and unofficial asset of the Central Intelligence Agency.
  • (4) Henderson was given permission to join Fulham when Brendan Rodgers arrived at Anfield in 2012 but has since developed into an important asset for the Liverpool manager, to the extent that the 24-year-old is the leading candidate to succeed Steven Gerrard as club captain when the 34-year-old leaves for LA Galaxy.
  • (5) Half a million homes were sold in Scotland, we lost a huge, huge chunk of stock, and as house prices began to escalate so any asset to the community has gone.
  • (6) The Press Association tots up a total of £26bn in asset sales last year – including the state’s Eurostar stake, 30% of the Royal Mail and a slice of Lloyds.
  • (7) And we will sell those assets that can be managed better by the private sector.
  • (8) If you get a fit Diaby back, it will be a major asset for our team.
  • (9) Unfortunately, it probably won’t happen with many countries … But if we can have a great relationship with Russia, and China, and all countries, I’m all for that, that would be a tremendous asset.
  • (10) Glencore has responded in textbook fashion: it has cut operating costs, sold assets and taken the axe to capital investment.
  • (11) The reputations of companies linked to fossil fuels are at immediate risk from a fast-growing divestment campaign, one of Europe’s biggest asset managers has warned.
  • (12) But the full detail of the report and the scale of their assets is striking.
  • (13) Above all, Addis could help close tax loopholes that allow multinational companies to report profits in tax havens – rather than where their workforces, assets or sales are.
  • (14) The Ministry of Defence has said it is “planning for a seamless transition of assets”.
  • (15) The decision to split up News Corp followed the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, which focused the attention of investors on the company's newspaper assets, which are far less profitable than its film and TV businesses.
  • (16) Declarations are not public and the New York Times said four-fifths of the assets it found were held by relatives not covered by party rules, including his mother and various in-laws.
  • (17) Work with colleagues to retrieve, centrally store, check permissions and give new life to these assets.
  • (18) A trained economist, Klatten is Germany's richest woman with assets worth $14.3bn (and 58th richest in the world).
  • (19) He’s struck a few chords with the immigration stuff, and he’s managed to capture the most valuable asset in a campaign, which is the attention of the press.
  • (20) Whether divorce interrupts the savings process or destroys assets, it is unlikely that most individuals will be able to save enough in later life to overcome the loss.

Liabilities


Definition:

  • (pl. ) of Liability

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Liability of retransplanted syngeneic skin grafts to rejection could be almost entirely abolished by their exposure to 300 rads irradiation before placement on the intermediate host.
  • (2) Tata Steel, the owner of Britain’s largest steel works in Port Talbot, is in talks with the government about a similar restructuring for the British Steel pension scheme , which has liabilities of £15bn.
  • (3) These results are discussed in relation to previous reports suggesting a common addiction liability for both morphine and alcohol in inbred strains of animals.
  • (4) The precise aetiology of AHQS is still unresolved but it is concluded that it probably occurs post-natally and that some pigs have a genetic liability to develop the condition.
  • (5) But Burr admitted the bill would still allow companies to share directly with the NSA, and could potentially receive liability protections if information is shared “not electronically”.
  • (6) Two years later, the Guardian could point to reforms that owed much to what Ashley called his "bloody-mindedness" in five areas: non-disclosure of victims' names in rape cases; the rights of battered wives; the ending of fuel disconnections for elderly people; a royal commission on the legal profession; and civil liability for damages such as those due to thalidomide victims.
  • (7) For a substantial majority of the symptoms, the variance in liability was best explained by only genetic factors and environmental influences specific to the individual, where 33% to 46% of the variance was due to genetic factors.
  • (8) The authors describe several recent court cases in which judges have ignored or distorted acceptable clinical practices, conceivably creating a new liability standard whereby a tragic outcome is considered the result of failure to apply appropriate judgment.
  • (9) Whilst a charity may seem to have plenty of cash to meet its general liabilities, if the money is in the form of restricted funds it can only be used with permission of the donor or the Charity Commission .
  • (10) The Tony Abbott lecturing the American president on taxation fairness is, of course, the one who as Australian prime minister is presiding over policies of taxation amnesty for the richest Australians who have themselves offshored their hidden wealth, capping their taxable liability to merely the last four years.
  • (11) Recent court decisions since the landmark Wickline v. The State of California case in 1987 have addressed this issue of shared liability between payors and providers.
  • (12) We could be in a situation now where the potential liabilities are higher, which makes it more unlikely to find private investment.
  • (13) In summary, there are now available very potent narcotics, with small side effect liability.
  • (14) Continued escalation of claims frequency, however, and average paid-claim costs mean that other remedies will have to be sought if the professional liability problem is to be solved.
  • (15) But once legal liability cases began, evidence emerged from internal documents that Wyeth knew of far more cases of pulmonary hypertension than had been declared either to the FDA or to patients.
  • (16) In summary, the liability to exencephaly in SELH mice appears to be a multifactorial threshold trait, and it therefore resembles human neural tube defects in type of genetic etiology.
  • (17) This escape from liability occurs despite the fact that almost half of all traffic fatalities are attributable to alcohol.
  • (18) The infrastructure of New York that was once an "engineering marvel" is now a "liability", he said, urging a long-term rethink.
  • (19) To assess the physical dependence liability of dynorphin A analogs, mice were given repeated injections of various dynorphin A analogs twice daily for 5 days, and rats were given repeated administration of [N-methyl-Tyr1,N-methyl-Arg7,D-Leu8]dynorphin-A-(1-8) ethylamide (E-2078) twice daily for up to 7 weeks.
  • (20) The relative merits and liabilities for each wavelength and delivery system are discussed.