Difference Between Equity and Assets

Equity is obtained by subtracting liabilities from assets, whether owner’s equity or shareholder’s equity. Assets are defined as those that help the business manufacture and generate operating revenues.

What is Equity?

Whenever a company owner decides to start a business, it requires resources to buy property, machinery, and other things to manufacture products and start and run the business. There are two sources of funds to buy all the assets required to run a business. One of the sources of funds is debt, and the other sources of funds are equity. Equity is part of the sources of funds that the owners of the company fund. Owner’s equity or shareholders equity is part of the balance sheet by subtracting liabilities from assets. Equity comprises various other subparts that add up to the owner’s equity. They are contributed capital, retained earningsRetained EarningsRetained Earnings are defined as the cumulative earnings earned by the company till the date after adjusting for the distribution of the dividend or the other distributions to the investors of the company. It is shown as the part of owner’s equity in the liability side of the balance sheet of the company.read more, treasury stocksTreasury StocksTreasury Stock is a stock repurchased by the issuance Company from its current shareholders that remains non-retired. Moreover, it is not considered while calculating the Company’s Earnings Per Share or dividends. read more, preferred shares Preferred SharesA preferred share is a share that enjoys priority in receiving dividends compared to common stock. The dividend rate can be fixed or floating depending upon the terms of the issue. Also, preferred stockholders generally do not enjoy voting rights. However, their claims are discharged before the shares of common stockholders at the time of liquidation.read more, and share of minority interestShare Of Minority InterestMinority interest is the investors’ stakeholding that is less than 50% of the existing shares or the voting rights in the company. The minority shareholders do not have control over the company through their voting rights, thereby having a meagre role in the corporate decision-making.read more, which is also known as non-controlling interestNon-controlling InterestIt generally projects curves on the data sets. For example, to forecast population growth, forming a non-linear relationship between time and growth.read more.

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What are Assets?

Assets are the resources required by the business to run and grow the business. Assets are part of a company that helps the business manufacture products and generate operating revenueOperating RevenueOperating revenue is defined as revenue earned by an individual, corporation, or organization from the core activities that they undertake on a regular basis. There are several methods to earn revenue, but operational revenue is earned by the core business activities that the organization undertakes in its daily operations.read more. Many line items in the balance sheet add up together to form the total assets in the balance sheet. Those line items are cash and cash equivalentsCash And Cash EquivalentsCash and Cash Equivalents are assets that are short-term and highly liquid investments that can be readily converted into cash and have a low risk of price fluctuation.  Cash and paper money, US Treasury bills, undeposited receipts, and Money Market funds are its examples. They are normally found as a line item on the top of the balance sheet asset. read more, which comprise cash, and short-term financial assets, as liquid as cash. Assets also include all machinery, property, and plant, mainly hard assets, which are reported as the gross fixed asset, which consists of the component of depreciation. Cash and PPE form a significant part of assets for a business. Other assets comprise accounts receivable, deferred tax assetsDeferred Tax AssetsA deferred tax asset is an asset to the Company that usually arises when either the Company has overpaid taxes or paid advance tax. Such taxes are recorded as an asset on the balance sheet and are eventually paid back to the Company or deducted from future taxes.read more, financial assets, and prepaid expensesPrepaid ExpensesPrepaid expenses refer to advance payments made by a firm whose benefits are acquired in the future. Payment for the goods is made in the current accounting period, but the delivery is received in the upcoming accounting period.read more. The asset side of the balance sheet also includes intangible assets; one of the popular intangible assets is goodwillGoodwillIn accounting, goodwill is an intangible asset that is generated when one company purchases another company for a price that is greater than the sum of the company’s net identifiable assets at the time of acquisition. It is determined by subtracting the fair value of the company’s net identifiable assets from the total purchase price.read more, which is created while acquiring a new company. These are the most valuable assets though the list is not comprehensive.

The accounting equationThe Accounting EquationAccounting Equation is the primary accounting principle stating that a business’s total assets are equivalent to the sum of its liabilities & owner’s capital. This is also known as the Balance Sheet Equation & it forms the basis of the double-entry accounting system. read more followed is:

Equity vs. Assets Infographics

Key Differences Between Equity and Assets

  • Equity comprises contributed capitalContributed CapitalContributed capital is the amount that shareholders have given to the company for buying their stake and is recorded in the books of accounts as the common stock and additional paid-in capital under the equity section of the company’s balance sheet.read more, retained earnings, treasury stocks, preferred shares, and shares of minority interest. Assets are cash and cash equivalent, property, plant, equipment, account receivables, deferred taxDeferred TaxDeferred Tax is the effect that occurs in a firm as a result of timing differences between the date when taxes are actually paid to tax authorities by the company and the date when such tax is accrued. Simply put, it is the difference in taxes that arises when taxes due in one of the accounting period are either not paid or overpaid.read more assets, and intangible assets.Equity is not affected by depreciation, whereas depreciationDepreciationDepreciation is a systematic allocation method used to account for the costs of any physical or tangible asset throughout its useful life. Its value indicates how much of an asset’s worth has been utilized. Depreciation enables companies to generate revenue from their assets while only charging a fraction of the cost of the asset in use each year.
  • read more impacts the assets. Gross fixed assets, together with depreciation from net fixed assets.Equity is the fund required to create the resources, whereas assets are those resources required to run a business.A balance sheetBalance SheetA balance sheet is one of the financial statements of a company that presents the shareholders’ equity, liabilities, and assets of the company at a specific point in time. It is based on the accounting equation that states that the sum of the total liabilities and the owner’s capital equals the total assets of the company.read more to balance equities can be achieved by subtracting equities from liabilities. We obtain assets by summing up assets and the liabilities on the balance sheet.While reporting equity, it is reported as the balance in book value. It is entirely on each asset, whether it should be reported on market value or book value in the balance sheet.There is no classification of equities, but assets can be classified as either tangible or intangible assets.

Comparison Table

Conclusion

Both equities and assets are part of the balance sheet. The accounting equation used to equate the balance sheet is assets equal liabilities plus equity. Equity is the source of the funds required to create assets to run and grow a business. On the other hand, assets are economic resources necessary to run the business. Assets can be classified as fixed assets or current assets based on the liquidity of the assets. All three financial statementsFinancial StatementsFinancial statements are written reports prepared by a company’s management to present the company’s financial affairs over a given period (quarter, six monthly or yearly). These statements, which include the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flows, and Shareholders Equity Statement, must be prepared in accordance with prescribed and standardized accounting standards to ensure uniformity in reporting at all levels.read more connect with the various line items of both assets vs. equities.

This article is a guide to Equity vs. Assets. Here we discuss the top differences between Equity and Assets along with infographics and a comparison table. You may also have a look at the following articles –

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