A balance sheet is a report that gives you a snapshot of the financial health of your business. Unlike a profit and loss statement, which shows you what you’ve earned and spent in a given time period, a balance sheet shows the whole picture of your finances.
A balance sheet lists your total assets (what you own), total liabilities (what you owe others), and equity (what part of the business you personally own) at any point in time.
Why are balance sheets important?
Reading a balance sheet can help you answer overarching financial questions like:
How much liquid assets does my business have? In other words, if I needed $X right now, do I have access to it?
Is my level of debt sustainable given my current operations?
How much is my business worth?
A balance sheet can also help you answer cash flow questions like:
How much money do others owe me that will be paid in the near future?
How much money do I owe others that needs to be paid in the near future? Do I have the cash available to cover these obligations?
How much money is available after paying my current liabilities to put back into my business (aka what’s my working capital)?
Finally, a balance sheet is often used by lenders and investors to see:
The financial risk of investing in your business. If your company has more liabilities than equity, it appears riskier.
If the business is becoming more or less solvent over time. Is the debt-to-asset ratio increasing or decreasing?
How much money is paid out to shareholders and owners or reinvested in the business?
Every account category is expandable so you can view the accounts and predictions that sit underneath them. You can edit every account line held within your balance sheet. To find out about the Prediction pages controls please head to the Sales Prediction page article where every area on the prediction pages are explained.
Export financials
Being able to export your financial data for bank loans, shareholders, or stakeholder reporting is important.
Hit the “Export Financials” button to export a 5-year view of your data for the P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash flow statement. 2 years of historical data and 3 years of forecast/budget data. All Account row reordering and account grouping will be preserved and delivered in expandable groups in the Google Sheets export. Export to Excel, or PDF from Google Sheets.