What is a Balance Sheet? 

 

Have you ever wondered how investors and other interested parties assess the financial position of companies before they become shareholders?

Alternatively, how do shareholders make informed decisions regarding a company? Parties interested in a company carry out a financial statement analysis to make these decisions. An analysis of financial statements would include a study of the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Cash Flow Statement.

But the question arises, what is a balance sheet in the first place?

 

What is a Balance Sheet?

A balance sheet is often referred to as a statement of financial position and helps declare the assets, liabilities, and shareholder equities related to the company. This allows the investors to calculate the rates of return while providing insight into the financial structure of a company.

The balance sheet of a company highlights its finances on a given date in terms of what the company owns and owes. Fundamental analysis of this sheet facilitates the calculation of several financial ratios, including the debt-to-equity ratio.

 

Balance Sheet Format

A regular balance sheet format comprises Assets on one side, with Liabilities and Shareholder Equity on the other. For better understanding, one can state that the balance sheet aims to establish a simple accounting equation, which balances out the components mentioned above:

Assets= Liabilities + Shareholders’ Equity

This formula can be understood with a little clarification. Whatever a company owns, is labeled as an asset. However, to pay for these assets, the company can borrow money, which adds to the liabilities.

The company can also allow third parties to invest, adding to the shareholder equity. One can guess that to maintain a healthy capital structure, both sides of the equation need to be balanced.

This can be explained with a scenario, in which a small business takes out a $10,000 loan from a local bank, which will add to the assets, as the $10,000 go to the cash account.

However, at the same time, the liabilities section also incurs an increase of $10,000 as the long-term debt account is equally affected by the transaction.

Components of a Balance Sheet

1. Assets
2. Liabilities
3. Shareholder Equity

 

1. Assets:

If simplified for better understanding, it can refer to everything that the company owns or is capable of generating cash. The accounts that are listed on this side of a balance sheet are arranged in decreasing order of liquidity or ease of conversion into cash. The accounts that come under current assets are of several types, based on their ease of liquefaction.

The assets of a company can be ranked based on liquidity as follows:

1. Cash and Cash Equivalents include assets, which can be liquefied with ease, such as certificates of deposit, hard currency, and bills related to the treasury.
2. Marketable Securities include debts as well as equity, which hold a liquid market.
3. Accounts Receivable refers to the money owed by customers to the company and includes bad debts and risky accounts.
4. Inventory held by a company refers to the goods or services that it can provide in exchange for currency.
5. Long-term assets include securities that cannot be liquidated within a year, land, machinery, and equipment among other capital-intensive assets. Long-term Assets also include goodwill and intellectual property when acquired by the company.

 

2. Liabilities:

Liabilities refer to the money that the company owes to third parties, and they include:

1. Money in the form of bills that are due for payment, or interest to be paid to creditors, utilities, and rent availed by a company.
2. Depreciation expenses include assets subject to gradual depreciation. These expenses include Cars, outdated Technology, and other expenditures that are of use to a company but lose value over time.
3. Bank Indebtedness
4. Pension funds fall in liabilities. It is so because it requires the company to deposit money into the retirement accounts of its employees.

 

3. Shareholder Equity:

Shareholder Equity falls on the right-hand side of the equation and equals the total assets that a company owns minus its liabilities. Thus, you can say that one can derive shareholder equity by subtracting the liabilities and debts owed to third parties that are not shareholders from its total assets.

The balance sheet represents the financial structure of a company in an instant and it can be compared with a sheet from another instance in the past. To overcome the limitations of these sheets, analysts often refer to cash flow statements and income statements.

Here is an example of a balance sheet report from ProfitBooks accounting software:

 

How to Make a Balance Sheet

Once you have developed a basic concept of what a Balance Sheet is and how it relates to other Financial Statements, we can move on to the process of making a sheet, which includes five steps:

1. Picking a date

Select a specific date to assess and estimate the value of current assets, liabilities, and equity of shareholders.

2. Listing and summation of Assets

The assets available to the company on a particular date are arranged based on their liquidity. Both Current and Non-Current assets belong in this list. The values of these assets are summed up and labeled as total assets.

3. Listing and summing up liabilities

Current liabilities due to be settled within a year are along with several long-term liabilities. One must sum up all the current and non-current liabilities.

4. Calculate the equity of owners

To do this, one must determine the retained earnings of a company in addition to the working capital. Retained earnings can refer to the profit made by a company, kept aside for reinvestment. Therefore, adding up share capital and retained earnings lead us to the Shareholders’ equity.

5. Establishing the balance sheet equation

In addition, if the equation “Assets= Liabilities + Shareholders’ Equity” is validated, you have made an accurate balance sheet. Upon failure, one can always go back and review their process and calculations.

 

Why should you check your balance sheets regularly?

Businesses can benefit from Balance Sheets that represent their financial standings in front of investors, other stakeholders, and lenders. It can provide you with information regarding what a business owns and owes to others.

A balance sheet can allow you to make more informed decisions, which helps sustain and grow the business.

It can provide information regarding the assets and liabilities of a company, therefore estimating its profitability.

In an ideal condition, the Assets must outweigh the Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity. The sheet can provide your business with an accurate representation of its current economic standings, which can make it easier to secure business loans, as well as other capital. The sheet also helps obtain important ratios regarding liquidity, the profitability of a business, and its solvency.

 

Conclusion: 

Your business can only benefit from a balance sheet as it paints a complete picture of the capital structure of a company, combined with other financial statements. An accurate analysis of the assets and liabilities of a company can help better management of resources as well as funds within a company. Frequent revisions of balance sheets help companies stay out of debt while they sustain and grow a healthy business.

This is where ProfitBooks comes into the picture. It takes away the requirement for accounting knowledge among business owners. 

This super simple accounting software allows small businesses to create invoices, record expenses, track inventory and manage taxes. This software comes with advanced accounting features like recording journal entries. 

The Balance Sheet is automatically generated while you enter your business transactions. To avail an accurate balance sheet for your business and more head, over to ProfitBooks and create your free account.

ProfitBooks also offers a remote bookkeeping service to take accounting off your plate. You can outsource the accounting process to the experts at the ProfitBooks team.

Find out more about the Remote Bookkeeping Service.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1. What are the three must-have things on a balance sheet?

A1. The three must-have things on a balance sheet are assets, liabilities, and equity.

Assets represent what a company owns, liabilities represent what it owes, and equity represents the shareholders’ ownership of the company. These components provide a snapshot of a company’s financial position at a specific point in time.

 

Q2. Why is it called a balance sheet?

A2. The term “balance sheet” is derived from the fundamental concept that the sheet must balance, meaning that the total value of assets should equal the sum of liabilities and equity. It provides a snapshot of a company’s financial position, ensuring that the equation remains in balance. This allows stakeholders to understand how a company’s resources are funded and how it has been managed.

 

Q3. Why are balanced sheets also called real accounts?

A3. Balance sheets are not typically referred to as “real accounts.” The term “real accounts” is more commonly associated with general ledger accounts in accounting. Balance sheets, on the other hand, are financial statements that provide a snapshot of a company’s financial position. They show the company’s assets, liabilities, and equity.

The term “balance sheet” is used to describe this specific financial statement because it reflects the balance between a company’s assets and its liabilities and equity, showing that they are equal and in balance.