A Balance Sheet is a snapshot of your business’ financial position on a given day, usually calculated at the end of the quarter or year. Balance Sheets are also useful in summarizing your business’ assets, liabilities and owner’s equity (also known as shareholders’ equity).
The way your finances balance is as follows: Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity. When everything balances, all your finances have been accounted for.
- Access the Balance Sheet
- FAQs
Access the Balance Sheet
To access your Balance Sheet, use these steps:
- Select the Accountingsection
- Then select Balance SheetunderAccounting Reports.
To adjust your view of the Balance Sheet report, select Filters underSettings. From there, you can change:
- Reset all - Select this link to restore the filters back to the default settings
- Balance Date - Choose from Custom, Today, End of Last Month,or End of Last Quarter (note that Jan 1, 2018 is the earliest date we can retrieve data from currently for Balance Sheets in Beta) - if you’ve changed your fiscal year end date, you can also choose from the extra options
- Compare Dates- If Custom is selected, check this box off and ensure you have a Start DateandEnd Date to compare with
- Accounting Method - Run the Balance Sheet report by either Billed (Accrual) or Collected (Cash-Based) income:
- Billed (Accrual) - Contains income and expenses for all transactions, whether cash has exchanged hands or not, and includes any sent invoices and bills that are still unpaid
- Collected (Cash-Based) - Contains income and expenses for transactions where cash has exchanged hands, and includes any sent invoices and bills that have a paid status
- Currency - Toggle between multiple currencies, only one currency can be viewed at a time
Additional options can also be accessed in the top right corner of the Balance Sheet report:
- More Actions
- Export for Excel - Download the report as a CSV file
- Print - Print the report or save the report as a PDF using the print dialog
- Send... - Send the report to any specific email addresses
Notes:
- Net Income - Displays current period earnings
- Retained Earnings - Displays previous period earnings, this is the profit remaining at the end of the reporting period after all costs, taxes and dividends to shareholders have been paid
- Automatically calculated from prior years’ net income plus any journal entries made directly to the Retained Earnings account (use General Ledger report instead to view any journal entries made to Retained Earnings account)
- The Balance Sheet shows balances for parent accounts only, export the Balance Sheet as a CSV to view more details
- To understand what makes up each account’s balance, use the Chart of Accounts or the Trial Balance report
- When comparing the Balance Sheet balances of Asset, Liability, and Equity accounts on an accrual basis with the Chart of Accounts / Trial Balance report, ensure the date range is set to the date of the first transaction in your business
FAQs
Why does my net income on the Balance Sheet not match the net profit on my Profit and Loss report or Trial Balance?
- Profit and Loss report- The net income on the Balance Sheet should match the net profit on your Profit and Loss report
- Totals may not match exactly due to sales taxes on bills and expenses which are excluded from the Profit and Loss report, review Sales Tax Summary report if needed
- Trial Balance report- The Trial Balance report does not include the Retained Earnings balance, use Compare Dates in the Balance Sheet’s filters to find the net income for the period that matches your Trial Balance report instead
It is recommended to use the Compare Dates in the Filters on the Balance Sheet to find the Net Income for the period that matches your Profit and Loss report or Trial Balance instead.
How can I reflect my fiscal year in my reports?
If you need to adjust any of your reports to reflect a particular year, or a year end, select the Filters next to any report's title to adjust the date range. For example, review the steps in the Profit and Loss report here.
FAQs
A balance sheet is a financial statement that contains details of a company's assets or liabilities at a specific point in time. It is one of the three core financial statements (income statement and cash flow statement being the other two) used for evaluating the performance of a business.
What is on a balance sheet report? ›
The balance sheet includes information about a company's assets and liabilities, and the shareholders' equity that results. These things might include short-term assets, such as cash and accounts receivable, inventories, or long-term assets such as property, plant, and equipment (PP&E).
Does FreshBooks generate balance sheet? ›
FreshBooks provides a range of accessible and easily formattable balance sheet formats, so that you can fill in your financial details with ease. Choosing the right business balance sheet template or you will depend on your preferred programs as well as your business needs.
What is considered a good balance sheet? ›
Having a strong balance sheet means that you have ample cash, healthy assets, and an appropriate amount of debt. If all of these things are true, then you will have the resources you need to remain financially stable in any economy and to take advantage of opportunities that arise.
What is balance sheet only one sentence answer? ›
What is balance sheet answer in one sentence? A balance sheet is a financial statement that summarizes a company's assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity at a specific point in time.
What is balance sheet explained simple? ›
Summary. The balance sheet (also referred to as the statement of financial position) discloses what an entity owns (assets) and what it owes (liabilities) at a specific point in time. Equity is the owners' residual interest in the assets of a company, net of its liabilities.
What is the purpose of a balance sheet? ›
The purpose of a balance sheet is to reveal the financial status of an organization, meaning what it owns and owes. Here are its other purposes: Determine the company's ability to pay obligations. The information in a balance sheet provides an understanding of the short-term financial status of an organization.
What is a balance sheet vs income statement? ›
Owning vs Performing: A balance sheet reports what a company owns at a specific date. An income statement reports how a company performed during a specific period. What's Reported: A balance sheet reports assets, liabilities and equity. An income statement reports revenue and expenses.
What is a balance sheet and what does it summarize and report? ›
A Balance Sheet is a snapshot of your business' financial position on a given day, usually calculated at the end of the quarter or year. Balance Sheets are also useful in summarizing your business' assets, liabilities and owner's equity (also known as shareholders' equity).
What are the disadvantages of FreshBooks? ›
FreshBooks' biggest drawbacks are its limits on users and billable clients. It includes one user in all plans but the Select tier (which allows two users); each additional user costs $11 per month. The lower-tier Lite and Plus plans allow up to five and 50 clients respectively.
Bank Reconciliation (Bank Rec) allows you to match any bank transactions to any FreshBooks Entries in your account so that your book balance matches your account balances. It also allows you to create transfers, owner's equity, and expense refund transactions by marking your bank transactions as such.
How much does FreshBooks take? ›
If you use FreshBooks' payment system, debit and credit cards will cost you 2.9% of the total invoice cost, plus 30 cents. If you operate through bank transfers, this charge will only be 1%. If you use a third party service, like PayPal or Stripe, you'll pay a similar fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents.
What looks bad on a balance sheet? ›
Some of the problems that tend to plague these companies on the balance sheet include: Negative or deficit retained earnings. Negative equity. Negative net tangible assets.
What are the 3 main things found on a balance sheet? ›
1 A balance sheet consists of three primary sections: assets, liabilities, and equity.
What 3 things must be included on a balance sheet? ›
The balance sheet includes three components: assets, liabilities, and equity. It's divided into two sides — assets are on the left side, and total liabilities and equity are on the right side. As the name implies, the balance sheet should always balance.
What is a balance sheet quizlet? ›
Balance Sheet. A statement of a company's assets, liabilities, and owner's equity on a certain date. Capital. Owner's equity or net worth. Current Ratio.
What is balance sheet balance? ›
A balance sheet should always balance. Assets must always equal liabilities plus owners' equity. Owners' equity must always equal assets minus liabilities.
What is a balance sheet Why is it important? ›
A balance sheet is one of several major financial statements you can use to track spending and earnings. Also called a statement of financial position, a balance sheet shows what your company owns and what it owes through the date listed, as Accounting Coach stated.
