The balance sheet provides a snapshot of your business’s financial records on a specific date. It includes a list of your business’s assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity.

A business’s assets are the items it owns and uses to generate income. These can include cash, accounts receivable, inventory, and long-term investments. In addition, a company may have other assets that can’t easily be monetized such as intellectual property or goodwill.

Liabilities are the payments that a business owes to others. These can be current (accounts payable and notes payable due within the year) or noncurrent (long-term loans and debt). When all of your company’s assets are subtracted from its total liabilities, you will have its owner’s equity. This is known as the company’s book value. This figure is important for many reasons, including providing a clear picture of the financial health of your business, and it is used when applying for bank loans.

Typically, the balance sheet is prepared by an accountant or bookkeeper. However, it can also be compiled by the company’s owner. For small, privately owned companies, the balance sheet is often a single page document. For larger publicly-traded corporations, it is typically much more extensive and may be published on a company website.

For the sake of consistency, a company’s balance sheet should be presented using standard accounting conventions. These guidelines are provided by the International Accounting Standards Board and numerous country-specific organizations/companies. Balance sheets are generally prepared on a quarterly basis for public companies, and annually for private companies.

The first step in creating a balance sheet is determining the reporting date, which is usually the end of a financial year. The next step is identifying all of your business’s assets as of that date. Then, identify all of your business’s liabilities as of that date and finally, compare your total assets against your total liabilities and equity.

When a balance sheet is complete, it should have all of your business’s line items listed on one side, and your company’s total liabilities and shareholder’s equity on the other side. The numbers should match up precisely, and if they don’t, there may be an issue with the calculations or some missing items. You may want to carefully examine the footnotes of a balance sheet before sharing it with any potential investors. This way, you can be sure that all of the information is accurate. Bilanz