Balance Sheet: Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity

The balance sheet provides creditors, investors, and analysts with information on company resources (assets) and its sources of capital (its equity and liabilities). It normally also provides information about the future earnings capacity of a company assets as well as an indication of cash flows that may come from receivables and inventories.

Liabilities represents obligations of a company arising from past events, the settlement of which is expected to result in an outflow of economic benefits from the entity.

Fiserv Inc., consolidated balance sheet: liabilities and stockholders’ equity

US$ in millions

	Dec 31, 2021	Dec 31, 2020	Dec 31, 2019	Dec 31, 2018	Dec 31, 2017
Trade accounts payable	593)	437)	392)	127)	80)
Client deposits	783)	702)	650)	564)	481)
Accrued compensation and benefits	392)	419)	378)	199)	198)
Accrued taxes	154)	130)	137)	18)	—)
Accrued interest	216)	220)	224)	35)	—)
Other accrued expenses	1,412)	1,278)	1,299)	203)	245)
Accounts payable and accrued expenses	3,550)	3,186)	3,080)	1,146)	1,004)
Short-term and current maturities of long-term debt	508)	384)	287)	4)	3)
Contract liabilities	585)	546)	492)	380)	552)
Settlement obligations	13,652)	11,521)	11,868)	480)	379)
Current liabilities	18,295)	15,637)	15,727)	2,010)	1,938)
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities	20,729)	20,300)	21,612)	5,955)	4,897)
Deferred income taxes	4,172)	4,389)	4,247)	745)	552)
Long-term contract liabilities	225)	187)	155)	89)	54)
Other long-term liabilities	878)	777)	941)	170)	117)
Long-term liabilities	26,004)	25,653)	26,955)	6,959)	5,620)
Total liabilities	44,299)	41,290)	42,682)	8,969)	7,558)
Redeemable noncontrolling interests	278)	259)	262)	—)	—)
Preferred stock, no par value; none issued	—)	—)	—)	—)	—)
Common stock, $0.01 par value	8)	8)	8)	8)	4)
Additional paid-in capital	22,983)	23,643)	23,741)	1,057)	1,035)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(745)	(387)	(180)	(67)	(54)
Retained earnings	14,846)	13,441)	12,528)	11,635)	10,240)
Treasury stock, at cost	(6,140)	(4,375)	(3,118)	(10,340)	(8,494)
Total Fiserv, Inc. shareholders’ equity	30,952)	32,330)	32,979)	2,293)	2,731)
Noncontrolling interests	720)	740)	1,616)	—)	—)
Total equity	31,672)	33,070)	34,595)	2,293)	2,731)
Total liabilities and equity	76,249)	74,619)	77,539)	11,262)	10,289)

Based on: 10-K (reporting date: 2021-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2020-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2019-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2018-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2017-12-31).

Over the period from 2017 to 2021, the company's financial data reveals several notable trends across its liabilities and equity components.

Liabilities

There is a pronounced increase in total liabilities, which grew substantially from approximately US$7.56 billion in 2017 to around US$44.3 billion in 2021. This surge is primarily driven by marked expansions in several specific categories:

Trade accounts payable: Increased steadily from US$80 million in 2017 to US$593 million in 2021, showing rising operational payable obligations.
Client deposits: Grew consistently from US$481 million to US$783 million, reflecting growing customer deposit balances.
Accrued compensation and benefits: Roughly doubled, increasing from US$198 million to a peak of US$419 million in 2020, slightly declining thereafter to US$392 million in 2021.
Accrued taxes and interest: Accrued taxes began at a low base and increased to US$154 million by 2021, while accrued interest rose sharply from US$35 million in 2018 to over US$220 million in the subsequent years, remaining relatively stable thereafter.
Other accrued expenses: This item showed a substantial increase, moving from US$245 million to US$1.41 billion, suggesting rising miscellaneous accrued obligations.
Accounts payable and accrued expenses: This broad category expanded significantly, escalating from US$1.0 billion to US$3.55 billion, supporting the trends seen in constituent components.
Short-term and current maturities of long-term debt: Experienced a sharp rise, from negligible amounts early on to US$508 million by 2021, indicating growing near-term debt obligations.
Contract liabilities and long-term contract liabilities: Contract liabilities showed fluctuations but increased from US$552 million to US$585 million, while long-term contract liabilities more than quadrupled from US$54 million to US$225 million, signaling enhanced contractual commitments over time.
Settlement obligations: A dramatic escalation occurred here, with amounts exploding from US$379 million in 2017 to over US$13.6 billion in 2021, representing a major contributor to current liabilities increasing from under US$2 billion to US$18.3 billion during the period.
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities: This liability category also surged markedly, rising from US$4.9 billion to over US$20.7 billion, indicating substantial long-term borrowing.
Deferred income taxes: After increasing markedly in 2019 and 2020 to over US$4 billion, this liability slightly declined to US$4.17 billion in 2021.
Other long-term liabilities: Rose significantly from US$117 million to nearly US$941 million in 2019 but declined somewhat in the following years, ending at US$878 million in 2021.
Total liabilities: The overall liabilities grew more than fivefold, indicative of a major leverage increase and expanded obligations across multiple fronts.

Equity

The shareholders’ equity demonstrated notable fluctuations:

Common stock and additional paid-in capital: Common stock remained stable at US$8 million, whereas additional paid-in capital jumped sharply from around US$1 billion to over US$23 billion by 2019, then slightly declined after that, reflecting significant equity transactions or acquisitions during the period.
Accumulated other comprehensive loss: This item deteriorated from a loss of US$54 million to US$745 million, suggesting increasing unrealized losses or adjustments affecting comprehensive income.
Retained earnings: Displayed steady growth from US$10.2 billion to US$14.8 billion, indicating ongoing profitability and earnings retention.
Treasury stock: The treasury stock balance, shown as a negative figure, fluctuated considerably but increased in absolute terms from roughly US$8.5 billion to over US$6 billion, indicating repurchase activity though with variability.
Total shareholders’ equity: The total equity saw a substantial increase up to 2019, peaking at nearly US$33 billion, followed by a modest decline through 2021, ending around US$31 billion. Noncontrolling interests also appeared in later years, contributing modestly to total equity.

Total Liabilities and Equity

The aggregate of liabilities and equity rose significantly from about US$10.3 billion in 2017 to over US$76 billion by 2021, evidencing overall balance sheet expansion driven mainly by increased liabilities coupled with periodic equity changes.

In summary, the financial data indicates robust growth in liabilities, particularly short-term obligations like settlement obligations and accounts payable, as well as considerable increases in long-term debt. Equity growth, although substantial during the earlier years, stabilized and experienced some contraction in later years. The company appears to have increased its leverage considerably while retaining earnings steadily, alongside significant equity transactions impacting additional paid-in capital. The pronounced rise in accrued expenses and other liabilities warrants further review to understand the underlying operational and financial drivers.

Download chart

Fiserv Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV)

Balance Sheet: Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity