contingent liability
1
8.6
- noun
- /kənˈtɪnʤənt laɪəˈbɪləti/
- Specialized
:
pasivo contingente
- The audit revealed a contingent liability that could impact the company's future financial health depending on the lawsuit's outcome.
Examples
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A company must disclose its contingent liability in the financial statements to inform investors about potential risks.
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Fannie Mae had assets of $0.8 trillion and guarantees (contingent liabilities) of around $1.6 trillion.
Blog text (12) -
And yes, contingent liabilities are just that.
Blog text (13) -
Other issues include: what are the implications of the euro on contingent liabilities?
Academic text (1999) -
In effect, a dangerous financial system prone to major collapses creates a hidden contingent liability for the federal budget in the United States.
Blog text (19) -
These transactions result in actual liabilities and contingent liabilities to a company with a special purpose.
Academic text (2018) -
It is easy to add more and more contingent liabilities to a government's balance sheet.
Blog text (15) -
Contingent liabilities are those potential obligations which are not conditionally repayable on a given date.
Academic text (2018) -
We must include contingent liabilities, we must estimate hidden and informal banking debt, and we must consider the further balance sheet consequences of an economic slowdown.
Blog text (19) -
Now, of course, it's clear that those insurance contracts constitute an enormous contingent liability for AIG—one so big that without government help the company would have gone bust.
Blog text (5)
Synonyms
176
5.1
A legal responsibility to pay money for damage
136
3.8
A formal legal or financial promise to do what an agreement says, often with a penalty if not kept
How Secure
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built from 'contingent' (conditional/on circumstances) + 'liability' (an obligation to pay), so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes an obligation that may arise depending on a future event. Although the term is specialized in accounting/legal contexts, its core meaning is directly derivable from the constituents and mirrors comparable constructions in other languages.
Etymology
Contingent liability comes from the two parts contingent, meaning 'depending on something', and liability, meaning 'a debt or responsibility'. Imagine a bill that sits on a table and will only become real if a court decides against you or a problem happens, so the phrase means 'a possible debt' that may happen in the future.