afaik, debt is a type of liability.
AHD:
1. The state of being liable. 2a. Something for which one is liable; an obligation, responsibility, or debt. b. liabilities The financial obligations entered in the balance sheet of a business enterprise.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/61/L0146100.html

caution: meaning 1b above means that in financial circles liability will have a different meaning.

aside: afaik, Schulden and Verbindlichkeiten are *not* the same

sorry, didnt quite get it. so when it says: amount of debts:xxx€ and total liabilities:xx€ in a business paper, what is the difference?

I'm not a finance expert, but the following might help:

if I borrow money from the bank, I have a debt -

if I have obligations, and responsibilities, then it might be that I have to pay them *only* if a particular set of circumstances is present. I have to make provision in my bookkeeping for the eventuality of this set of circumstances arising, hence I have to enter the obligations in my list of liabilities.

(God, the financial boys are going to have a field day with this one! sorry if I inadvertently step on someone's toes)

Lucy, "liabilities" müssen nicht in Geld bestehen. Es kann sich um eine Abnahmeverpflichtung, eine Garantie o.ä. handeln.
'debt" ist üblicherweise Geld.

Ist es jetzt klarer?

thank you all very much, that really helped

Zu den Verbindlichkeiten gehören insbesondere Lieferantenrechnungen.