Which of the following financial components is considered part of liabilities?

Liabilities are defined as obligations that a company owes to external parties, which are expected to be settled in the future through the transfer of economic benefits. Short-term loans represent borrowed funds that the company must repay within a year or one operating cycle, whichever is longer. This classification directly aligns with the definition of liabilities, as they reflect an entity's responsibility to pay back lenders or creditors.

In contrast, owner's investments represent equity contributed by the owners, rather than debts owed; retained earnings are accumulations of profit that have not been distributed to shareholders, reflecting a company's internal funding rather than external obligations. Asset depreciations, while important for asset valuation and accounting, do not represent a liability but rather the method of allocating the cost of an asset over its useful life. Thus, only short-term loans accurately fit the category of liabilities.