What is a financial liability? Your 30 second recap for IAS 32

A financial liability is:

1. A contractual obligation

  • to deliver cash or another financial asset to another entity; or
  • to exchange financial assets or financial liabilities with another entity under conditions that are potentially unfavourable to the entity; or

2. A contract that will or may be settled in the entity’s own equity instruments and is

  • a non-derivative for which the entity is or may be obliged to deliver a variable number of the entity’s own equity instruments; or
  • a derivative that will or may be settled other than by the exchange of a fixed amount of cash or another financial asset for a fixed number of the entity’s own equity instruments*

*For this purpose the entity’s own equity instruments do not include:

  • instruments that are themselves contracts for the future receipt or delivery of the entity’s own equity instruments;
  • puttable instruments classified as equity or certain liabilities arising on liquidation classified by IAS 32 as equity instruments