In accounting, current liabilities are often understood as all liabilities of the business that are to be settled in cash within the fiscal year or the operating cycle of a given firm, whichever period is longer. A more complete definition is that current liabilities are obligations that will be settled by current assets or by the creation of new current liabilities. Accounts payable are due within 30 days, and are paid within 30 days, but do often run past 30 days or 60 days in some situations. The laws regarding late payment and claims for unpaid accounts payable is related to the issue of accounts payable. An operating cycle for a firm is the average time that is required to go from cash to cash in producing revenues. For example, accounts payable for goods, services or supplies that were purchased for use in the operation of the business and payable within a normal period would be current liabilities. Amounts listed on a balance sheet as accounts payable represent all bills payable to vendors of a company, whether or not the bills are less than 31 days old or more than 30 days old. Therefore late payments are not disclosed on the balance sheet for accounts payable. There may be footnotes in audited financial statements regarding age of accounts payable but this is not common accounting practice. Lawsuits regarding accounts payable are required to be shown on audited financial statements but this is not necessarily common accounting practice.

En comptabilité, les dettes circulantes sont considérées à court terme s'il y a une obligation de les payer durant l'année fiscale, comme :

• comptes payables pour les biens et services utilisés dans les opérations de l'entreprise ;
• les portions courantes (si matérielles) des :
  • obligations ;
  • hypothèques ;
  • emprunts 

Текущие обязательства — денежные суммы, которые организация должна оплатить кредиторам в течение непродолжительного периода времени, обычно в течение одного года.