Long Term Debt

Long Term Debt is a measure of the future obligations that are payable outside of the normal operating cycle of one year.  Long term debt consists of bonds payable, pension obligations, long term notes payable, mortgages and long term leasing obligations.

Long term debt is a somewhat permanent means of financing growth and thereby increasing the return to shareholders.  Unusually the bylaws of company's require the approval of the board of directors prior to issuing of bonds or other forms of long term debt.

Long term debt of a company can be found in the liabilities section of the balance sheet.