How to Calculate Withdrawals on an Owner's Equity Statement

Many financial statement types exist in the business world. Each of these statements has a role to play in accounting for various business aspects, such as owner’s equity and determining the book value of a business in case of liquidation.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) refers to the owners’ equity or shareholders’ equity as net worth or capital. It represents a business owner’s stake in the business assets after total liabilities have been removed. It is usually accounted for within the balance sheet or statement of owner’s equity after each accounting period ends, with retained earnings being one of total equity’s primary components. However, the information available on income and cash flow statements may play a role in calculating stockholders’ 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 small business owner could choose to reinvest the money left over after subtracting total liabilities from total assets for any number of things. However, they could also pay themselves and cater to personal expenses, or close down the business completely by making owner’s withdrawals, a process that Score.org discusses in detail.

Usually, small business owner withdrawals reduce the owner’s equity and may indicate poor financial health when done in excess, especially when exceeded by liabilities. You can find them listed on the statement of owner's equity and balance sheet. You are not likely to find withdrawals 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 even to cater to liabilities. In the latter’s case, they can get the money left over via dividends before investing the remainder of retained earnings.

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 even if there are no changes to liabilities. On corporation financial statements, they are known as additional paid-in capital and appear in the equity section of a company's balance sheet. That is because the monies belong to stockholders since funding could be obtained via common stock or preferred stock issuance.

The accounting equation 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 your ability to cater to liabilities and associated expenses. Plus, the more money you withdraw, the lower your business net worth becomes. If you have a negative owner’s equity, it implies your current liabilities exceed your assets, and you owe debtors or lenders money. 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.

• To determine the change in owner’s equity, 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, get 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.
  
• Use the owner’s equity 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 shareholders’ equity of $600,000 and an ending owner’s equity of $700,000. Also, it made a net income of $200,000 and had additional investments worth $100,000.

Based on the available information, you can calculate 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.