An important financial statement that an accounting system like QuickBooks 2012 produces is a balance sheet. A balance sheet reports on a business’s assets, liabilities, and owner contributions of capital at a particular point in time.
The assets shown on a balance sheet are those items that are owned by the business, which have value and for which money was paid.
The liabilities shown on a balance sheet are those amounts that a business owes to other people, businesses, and government agencies.
The owner’s contributions of capital are the amounts that owners, partners, or shareholders have paid into the business in the form of investment or have reinvested in the business by leaving profits inside the company.
As long as you understand what assets and liabilities are, a balance sheet is easy to understand and interpret. The following table, for example, shows a simple balance sheet.
| Assets | |
| Cash | $1,000 |
| Inventory | 3,000 |
| Total assets | $4,000 |
| Liabilities | |
| Accounts payable | $2,000 |
| Loan payable | 1,000 |
| Owner’s equity | |
| S. Nelson, capital | 1,000 |
| Total liabilities and owner’s equity | $4,000 |
Balance sheets can use several other categories to report assets: accounts receivable (these are amounts that customers owe), investments, fixtures, equipment, and long-term investments. In the case of a small owner-operated business, not all these asset categories show up. But if you look at the balance sheet of a very large business — say, one of the 100 largest businesses in the United States — you see these other categories.
The liabilities section of the balance sheet shows the amounts that the firm owes to other people and businesses. For example, the balance sheet shows $2,000 of accounts payable and a $1,000 loan payable. Presumably, the $2,000 of accounts payable is the money that you owe to the vendors who have supplied your hot dogs and buns.
The $1,000 loan payable represents some loan you’ve taken out — perhaps from some well-meaning and naive relative.
The owner’s equity section shows the amount that the owner, the partners, or shareholders have contributed to the business in the form of original funds invested or profits reinvested.
One important point about the balance sheet: This balance sheet shows how owner’s equity looks when the business is a sole proprietorship. In the case of a sole proprietor, only one line is reported in the owner’s equity section of the balance sheet. This line combines all contributions made by the proprietor — both amounts originally invested and amounts reinvested.
A balance sheet needs to balance. This means that the total assets must equal the total liabilities and owner’s equity. In the balance sheet, total assets show as $4,000. Total liabilities and owner’s equity also show as $4,000. This equality is no coincidence. If an accounting system works right and the accountants and bookkeepers entering information into this system do their jobs right, the balance sheet balances.
A balance sheet provides a snapshot of a business’s financial condition at a particular point in time.
You can prepare a balance sheet for any point in time. It’s key that you understand that a balance sheet is prepared for a particular point in time.
By convention, businesses prepare balance sheets to show the financial condition at the end of the period of time for which an income statement is prepared. For example, a business typically prepares an income statement on an annual basis. In this orthodox situation, a firm also prepares a balance sheet at the very end of the year.
The owner’s equity section of a balance sheet looks different for different types of businesses.
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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/quickbooks-20120-balance-sheet.html
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