Question

reasons for negative operating liabilities

Answer 1

Negative operating liability appears when a firm pays more than what was required as per the original liability. These are generally mistakes that happen in accounting softwares. Say instead of passing a single payment entry, accidentally two entries were passed. So the liability got paid twice and now the amount will be shown as negative.

If an organisation has paid more deliberately, then they will appear in accounts payable as credit. This can be used to offset future payments. Technically it should be recorded as asset under prepaid expense.