What Is a Balance Sheet? Definition and Guide - Shopify (2024)

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The balance sheet is a statement of a firm’s financial position at a specified time, such as the end of month, quarter or year. The balance sheet will show assets and list any liabilities, giving a statement of what the business owes and owns.

by Shopify Staff

What Is a Balance Sheet? Definition and Guide - Shopify (4)

The balance sheet is a statement of a firm’s financial position at a specified time, such as the end of month, quarter or year. The balance sheet will show assets and list any liabilities, giving a statement of what the business owes and owns.

What shows on the balance sheet?

On the balance sheet the firm will record its assets. These will depend on the type of business but typically will include:

  • Cash
  • Petty Cash
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Stock
  • Equipment
  • Land
  • Buildings
  • Advance payments for stock
  • Insurance paid

A record of the assets will show the financial good health of the firm, what it is worth on paper to potential investors or banker when looking for credit.

The firm also records liabilities. This will include such items as:

  • Accounts payable
  • Salaries payable
  • Taxes payable
  • Interest on loans
  • Loans payable
  • Expenses payable
  • Casual labor wages due
  • Leasing agreements for equipment

The principal of the loans payable over the accounting period are only included on the balance sheet, as are the payments due in that time on a leasing agreement.

There are many more assets and liabilities that could be included depending on the type of business. For a typical store, the balance sheet will include most items on these lists. The balance sheet is a picture of the store’s health therefore the store must record all assets and liabilities.

Financial health of business

Any retail business will need to keep a very accurate balance sheet. The storeowner will want to know the financial health of the business before planning for the year ahead or if thinking of expansion. A banker will need to see the balance sheet before deciding on extending credit terms or granting new facilities.

If the storeowner is looking for investors of partners, they will want a look at the current balance sheet. One that shows more in liabilities than in assets will raise questions on the viability of the store. The store may have too much debt to pay or have too many debtors on the accounts receivable entry or creditors on the accounts payable.

A store running a negative balance sheet will be a warning to bankers and others. It is also a warning to the storeowner that the store is under pressure financially and that though the store may seem busy, they may need to adjust to keepa high profit marginover the long term.

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Balance Sheet FAQ

What is a balance sheet and what is its purpose?

A balance sheet is a financial statement that summarizes the assets, liabilities, and equity of a business at a particular point in time. Its purpose is to provide a snapshot of the financial condition of a business, showing the resources it has available to generate profits, how it is funded and its overall net worth.

What are the 3 types of balance sheets?

  • Single-step income statement: This type of balance sheet lists only the amounts of income and expense, without any further breakdown.
  • Multi-step income statement: This type of balance sheet lists income and expense items in separate categories and provides a detailed breakdown of each item.
  • Statement of retained earnings: This type of balance sheet provides a summary of the changes in retained earnings over a period of time.

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.

by Shopify Staff

Last updated Nov 12, 2022

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What Is a Balance Sheet? Definition and Guide - Shopify (2024)

FAQs

What Is a Balance Sheet? Definition and Guide - Shopify? ›

Balance Sheet: A statement of a company's financial position at a particular point in time, showing assets, liabilities, and net worth. Income Statement: A statement of a company's financial performance over a period of time, showing revenue, expenses, gains, and losses.

What is balance sheet definition and meaning? ›

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 a balance sheet in retail? ›

A balance sheet is a financial document designed to communicate exactly how much a company or organization is worth—its so-called “book value.” The balance sheet achieves this by listing out and tallying up all of a company's assets, liabilities, and owners' equity as of a particular date, also known as the “reporting ...

What is balance in Shopify? ›

Shopify Balance is a money management account that you can use to manage your store's payments and transactions from one place. You can add in another account to allocate funds towards expenses such as payroll, for example. You can also earn cashback and receive partner offers when you use your Shopify Balance card.

What is the main purpose of the 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 are the main components of a balance sheet? ›

A business Balance Sheet has 3 components: assets, liabilities, and net worth or equity.

What is balance sheet one word answer? ›

Balance Sheet is the financial statement of a company which includes assets, liabilities, equity capital, total debt, etc.

How to do a balance sheet for a small business? ›

How to make a balance sheet in 8 steps
  1. Step 1: Pick the balance sheet date. ...
  2. Step 2: List all of your assets. ...
  3. Step 3: Add up all of your assets. ...
  4. Step 4: Determine current liabilities. ...
  5. Step 5: Calculate long-term liabilities. ...
  6. Step 6: Add up liabilities. ...
  7. Step 7: Calculate owner's equity.
Mar 22, 2024

What does a balance sheet tell you? ›

The balance sheet provides information on a company's resources (assets) and its sources of capital (equity and liabilities/debt). This information helps an analyst assess a company's ability to pay for its near-term operating needs, meet future debt obligations, and make distributions to owners.

What are examples of balance sheet? ›

Example balance sheet
  • assets – including cash, stock, equipment, money owed to business, goodwill.
  • liabilities – including loans, credit card debts, tax liabilities, money owed to suppliers.
  • owner's equity – the amount left after liabilities are deducted from assets.

Is Shopify Balance a good idea? ›

Shopify Balance offers basic business checking account features. With no monthly fees and a free debit card — plus at least 2% cash back on all the money you spend with Shopify — it's a solid option for Shopify sellers. But if you sell outside that ecosystem, a different account may offer better benefits.

What happens if you don't pay your Shopify Balance? ›

If you missed paying your Shopify subscription bill or if a payment fails multiple times, then your store is frozen until you settle your bill with Shopify. Your store doesn't freeze until your bill's due date. If your store is frozen, then you can't access your Shopify admin and customers can't view your store.

How much does a Shopify Balance cost? ›

Shopify Balance has no monthly, transfer, or hidden fees. Shopify doesn't charge any ATM withdrawal fees, but you may be charged by an ATM provider.

What is the key point of balance sheet? ›

Key Takeaways

It provides a snapshot of a company's finances (what it owns and owes) as of the date of publication. The balance sheet adheres to an equation that equates assets with the sum of liabilities and shareholder equity.

What is the most important part of a balance sheet? ›

Depending on what an analyst or investor is trying to glean, different parts of a balance sheet will provide a different insight. That being said, some of the most important areas to pay attention to are cash, accounts receivables, marketable securities, and short-term and long-term debt obligations.

What is the concept of balance sheet? ›

It consists of transactions recorded under two sides namely, assets and liabilities. Assets are placed in the left hand side, while the liabilities are placed on the right hand side. The total of both side should always be equal. The balance sheet discloses financial position of the business.

What are the three types of balance sheets? ›

The 3 types of balance sheets are:
  • Comparative balance sheets.
  • Vertical balance sheets.
  • Horizontal balance sheets.

Why do we prepare balance sheet? ›

A balance sheet can help you tracking the performance of your company, for example, your company's ability to meet financial obligations. In addition, it allows you to compare your current balance sheet to a prior balance sheet to better understand how your company is doing over time.

How to read a balance sheet for dummies? ›

The balance sheet is broken into two main areas. Assets are on the top or left, and below them or to the right are the company's liabilities and shareholders' equity. A balance sheet is also always in balance, where the value of the assets equals the combined value of the liabilities and shareholders' equity.

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