Contingent liabilities
Possible future obligations that depend on an event that has not happened yet: a court ruling, a tax claim, a guarantee being called.
How to read the number
They are not on the balance sheet — they are disclosed in the notes. For judging risk the notes matter more here than the balance sheet table itself.
When the metric lies
The company decides whether to recognise a provision or leave the item contingent. The boundary is probability, and it is assessed by the party with no incentive to recognise anything.