Skip to ContentGo to accessibility page

Key Terms

bonus
difference between the value of a partner’s capital account and the cash payment made at the time of that partner’s or another partner’s withdrawal
capital account
equity account for each partner that tracks all activities such as profit sharing, reductions due to distributions, and contributions by partners to partnership
dissolution
closing down of a partnership for economic, personal, or other reasons that may be unique to the particular partnership
general partnership
partnership in which each partner is personally liable to the partnership’s creditors if the partnership has insufficient assets to pay its creditors
limited liability
form of legal liability in which a partner’s obligation to creditors is limited to his or her capital contributions to the firm
limited liability partnership (LLP)
partnership that provides all partners with limited personal liability against all other partners’ obligations
limited partnership (LP)
partnership in which at least one partner is a general partner but the remaining partners can be limited partners, which means they are liable only for their own investment in the firm if the partnership cannot pay its creditors; thus, their personal assets are not at risk
liquidation
(also, dissolution) process of selling off non-cash assets
mutual agency
ability of each partner to act as an agent of the partnership in dealing with persons outside the partnership
partner
individuals, corporations, and even other partnerships participating in a partnership entity
partnership
legal business structure consisting of an association of two or more people who contribute money, property, or services to operate as co-owners of a business
partnership agreement
document that details the partners’ role, the way profits and loss are shared, and the contributions each partner makes to the partnership
realization
the sale of noncash assets for cash
unlimited liability
form of legal liability in which general partners are liable for all business debts if the business cannot meet its liabilities
Citation/Attribution
Reuse and redistribution of this content in digital or print format:
  • This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's prior written permission.
  • This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, which means that you can reuse and modify the material only for noncommercial purposes, must attribute OpenStax, and must distribute any derivative works under the same license.
  • Any commercial printing of this textbook, including using a local or custom printer, must be approved by OpenStax, and proper citation provided.
  • OpenStax-copyrighted images, activities, assessments, and similar components of this book are subject to the same licensing – CC-BY-NC-SA. They can be used for noncommercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use requires permission.
  • Permission requests: Anyone who intends to incorporate this content (including text, images, and other components) into large language models, use it in AI offerings, use it commercially (including in print), and/or has questions about another use case is welcome to complete our reuse request form.
Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/principles-financial-accounting/pages/1-why-it-matters

  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial digital format, then for every page that includes OpenStax content, you must license the derivative work under the same CC-BY-NC-SA license as the original, and include on every digital page view the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/principles-financial-accounting/pages/1-why-it-matters

Citation information

The information below includes the information needed to generate citations in most major styles (APA, MLA, etc.); you must reformat and organize the information as needed to fit the requirements of the style. Use the information below to generate a citation. We recommend using a citation tool such as this one.

© Apr 23, 2026 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo, and Rice University name, and Rice University logo trademarks, or wordmarks are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.