An accrued expense is an accounting expense that is recognized in the books but has not yet been paid. It is usually a current expense. An accrued expense is paid when the due date for payment has reached, for example, wages are accounted for in the books before they are paid, but are usually paid either on a monthly or weekly basis depending on the policies of the company.
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If an accrued liability is not recorded, then it is not a liability on the balance sheet. Not sure if the employee's could sue - that's a legal question - but if it was paid at a later date then it would be an expense at the time the liability was paid. If you mean to ask - what happens if an accrued liability for salaries is not paid, or is not timely paid - then the IRS can deny the deduction.
Salary expense is not a liability - it is an expense; however, if salaries are accrued between periods, there will likely be a liability account named "Accrued Salaries" or "Salary Due."Associated with salaries; however, are various taxes. Those taxes are not necessarily submitted to government entities at the same time as the salary is paid to employees. There will likely be liability account(s) associated with those taxes.
As you accrue expenses, they show up as a CREDIT on the balance sheet, and a DEBIT on the income statement. Then as you actually incur the expense and pay out, you would CREDIT your cash account, and DEBIT the accrued liability account on the balance sheet. For example, if you expect to spend $12,000/year on business travelling expenses, you would accrue $1000 monthly as a CREDIT to your accrued liability account (on the balance sheet), then a DEBIT to the expense account (on the income statement). When you actually do incur the expense and pay out, you CREDIT your cash account, and DEBIT the accrued liability account. Thus, the accrued liability account is cleared out and eventually washed out to zero.
days in which cash is tied up in working capital and cannot be used for expeneses
accrued expenses are those costs which have been incurred in a period, but which have not yet been paid for e.g. rental for property for March which is paid in April, must be accounted for (i.e. entered in your books) in March as an accrual