The Balance Sheet is a record of the state of your business at a particular point in time. This would generally be at the end of your chosen financial year but could be provided at the end of any period of your choosing. Large, public organisations produce a Balance Sheet along with their Operating Statement each month in order that their shareholders can see the progress being made, or not as the case may be

The Balance Sheet shows the value of the assets owned by the business, its liabilities and thus the nett worth of the business. This latter is the difference between the assets and liabilities and should always be positive, that is the total of the assets must be greater than the liabilities otherwise the business is said to be insolvent. It is an offence for a business to trade whilst it is insolvent for obvious reasons - Customers may not get the goods they have ordered and Suppliers may not get paid, Banks may not get their repayments and the taxmen may not get what is due to them

A simple presentation of a Balance Sheet will look like this

Fixed Assets
	Plant & Equipment
	Office Equipment
	Computers & Software
	Furniture & Fittings
	Vehicles
Current Assets
	Inventory
	Cash
	Receivables
	Prepaid Expenses
Current Liabilities
	Payables
	Accrued Expenses
	Accrued Taxes
	Short Term Loans
Term Liabilities
	Long Term Loans

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Last Update 08-Jan-2012

Date first published 07-Nov-2005