Read the balance sheet

The balance sheet shows what the branch owns, what it owes and what belongs to the owners on a single date. Use it at month end, at year end, or whenever a bank or partner asks for your financial position.

Steps

1. Open Reports & Analytics › Accounting Reports › Balance Sheet Report.

2. Enter the date in As of date. Empty means today.

3. Optional: choose a branch in Branch ID. Empty means your current branch.

4. Select Apply.

What the screen shows

Three tiles summarise the position:

• Total assets.

• Liabilities + Equity.

• Balanced or Unbalanced: the difference between the two. A correct balance sheet shows zero.

The Composition chart compares the size of the three sections. Below it, the statement lists:

• Assets, Liabilities and Equity, each with its account groups as bold header lines and the accounts under them, with the account code before the name.

• In Equity, a line for the profit or loss of the current year that has not yet been closed to retained earnings. It covers the calendar year of your as-of date up to that date.

Every balance is shown in its normal direction, so assets, liabilities and equity are all positive in the usual case. A negative line, shown in red, deserves a look: for example a bank account in overdraft or a supplier you have overpaid.

Export

Use Export Excel or Export PDF to produce the statement with each section, its lines and the two totals.

Common questions

The tile says Unbalanced. First run the trial balance for the same branch. If it is balanced, an account is probably placed in the wrong part of the chart of accounts, for example a revenue account under liabilities.

Will the current-year profit line disappear after year end? It moves into retained earnings once you close the fiscal year. See fiscal years.

Can I see the balance sheet for all branches together? The report works per branch. Run it for each branch, or export each one and combine the files.