How to Calculate Withdrawals on an Owner's Equity Statement

Many financial statement types exist in the business world. And each of these statements has a role to play in accounting for various business aspects, such as owner’s equity.

Typically, an owner’s equity refers to a business owner’s stake in the business assets after all the liabilities have been removed. It represents a business owner’s net worth. And it is usually accounted for within the balance sheet or statement of owner’s equity after each accounting period ends. However, the information available on income and cash flow statements may play a role in calculating owner’s equity.

Its formula is:

​Owner’s Equity = Assets - Liabilities​

Several business actions affect the owner's equity positively or negatively. Below are some of them.

A business owner could choose to reinvest the money left over after subtracting liabilities from assets for any number of things. But they could also pay themselves and cater to personal expenses, or close down the business completely by making owner’s withdrawals.

Usually, withdrawals reduce the owner’s equity. You can find them on the accounting item list within the balance sheet. You are not likely to find withdrawal on income statements, but they will be accounted for in the cash flow statement.

Usually, owner’s draws are allowed in business partnerships, sole proprietorships and limited liability companies. But corporations cannot take owner’s withdrawals. In the latter’s case, they can get the money left over via dividends.

It is also worth noting that taxes don’t have an effect on the owner’s draws. The amounts are usually taxed on the personal end, instead of on the business side

Net income and losses are found in the income statement. The former shows profit and increases the owner’s equity, while the latter decreases the owner’s equity. The net income or loss will also appear on the statement of owner’s equity.

When a business owner makes additional investments in the business, their business net worth increases. And on corporation financial statements, they are known as paid-in capital and appear in the liabilities section of a company's balance sheet. That is because the monies belong to stockholders.

The formula for determining the ending owner’s equity at the end of each accounting period is:

​Ending Owner’s Equity = Net Income + Beginning Owners’ Equity + Additional Investments - Withdrawals​

Your withdrawals can have a huge negative impact on your owner’s equity. And the more money you withdraw, the lower your business net worth becomes. So, you need to understand how to calculate your withdrawals to determine whether you are taking out too much money from your business.

Below is the procedure for doing so.

• Find your statement of owner’s equity and note down the beginning and ending owner’s equity values, the net income and additional investment amounts.
• Alternatively, calculate the owner’s equity from the balance sheet and find the net income from the income statement. The additional investment amounts can be found in the balance sheet in the owner’s equity section under liabilities.
• Use the formula above to determine the withdrawals. In this case, your withdrawals = Ending owner’s equity - net income - beginning owner’s equity - additional investments.
• The resulting answer, which is negative, shows what you have removed from the business.

Suppose your company Farmer’s Inc. has a beginning owner’s equity of $600,000 and an ending owner’s equity of $700,000. Also, it made a net income of $200,000 and got additional investments worth $100,000.

Based on the available information, you can calculate for withdrawals.

In this case, the formula to use is:

Ending Owner’s Equity = Net Income + Beginning Owners’ Equity + Additional Investments - Withdrawals

Thus, your math would look like this:

$700,000 = $200,000 + $600,000 + $100,000 - Withdrawals

That is the same as:

$(700,000-200,000-600,000-100,000) = -Withdrawals, which is equal to -$200,000.

Remember, the number is negative because it represents a removal of money from the owner’s equity. And in this case, the math shows ​you withdrew $200,000​ during the specified accounting period.

It is important to note that net losses are usually expressed as negatives since they show that what you made was less than what you generated. So, you need to factor in that within your calculations for withdrawals for accurate results.