Balance Sheet

  

Categories: Accounting

It’s a snapshot. A financial reckoning of what you own, and what you owe, at a given moment in time.

A balance sheet is divided into columns. On the left are, uh...good things. Things you own. On the right side are things you owe, like debts or obligations you have to pay off.

Think through the balance sheet of Little Brother, Inc. You have total assets of $142, with Current Assets of $100. Eighty bucks of that Current Asset set is Cash and $20 is an IOU from the tooth fairy, i.e. Dad, who woke you up last night replacing the tooth, and since you’re old enough, you just winked, and he said ""yeah, I’ll get you a 20 from my wallet in the morning."" Note that, if he’d said ""I’ll get it for you a year and change from now,"" it wouldn’t be a current asset, it would just be a long-term asset, because current means that a promise or a product or a whatever, turns into cash within the year.

You mowed the lawn for the summer for Mrs. Gardenbottom, and billed her $500. She paid you $490 and still owes you $10. That money lives on your accounts receivable line.

You have 497 little blue marbles as your only asset, which your friend Billy has offered you tons of times to buy for $24…so you can hold that amount as inventory, since you deal in marbles regularly.

And you paid $10 for 10-year rights to enter your sister Jeanie’s room any time you want. You still have 8 years to go on that paper, so you depreciate its value at a dollar a year. It’s worth $8 today.

Total everything up and you have that $142 in assets on your own personal balance sheet. OK...so what about your liabilities?

Well, you have total liabilities of $100. You owe Joe LunchBully 30 bucks to learn why you’ll stop hitting yourself. Or rather, to stop doing so. You owe him 30 bucks tomorrow. And you know you’ll owe him 60 bucks a year from now. Maybe more in the future, and maybe not, if you grow.

But you are conservative financially, so you reserve that 60 bucks as if it’s a certain long-term debt. You borrowed 10 bucks from your boo Amy the Auditor for lunch. She actually submitted to you an invoice, albeit romantically.

So you have 10 bucks on that line of your balance statement. You have $142 in total assets and $100 in total liabilities.

Wait. They don’t balance. Oh no. What shall we do?

Well, a balance sheet accounts for this. It’s called ALE and stands for Assets minus Liabilities equals Equity. You have assets of $142, which you can subtract from your liabilities of $100, and you have net equity value to your, uh...life...of 42 bucks.

Looks like Little Brother, Inc. doesn’t have to worry about filing for bankruptcy any time in the near future. Which is good, because with Joe Lunchbully in the picture, life is hard enough as it is.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is a Balance Sheet?47 Views

00:00

finance- a la shmoop. what is a balance sheet? well it's a snapshot. a financial

00:09

reckoning of what you own ,and what you owe at a given moment in time. well note

00:14

that a balance sheet is divided into columns like this. on the left are good [balance sheet pictured]

00:19

things like things you own. on the right side are things you owe like debts or

00:24

obligations you have to pay off. well think for the balance sheet of little

00:28

brother Inc. you have total assets of $142 with current assets of a hundred

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bucks .80 bucks of that current asset set is cash and twenty dollars is an IOU

00:38

from the tooth fairy ie dad ,who woke you up last night [clown next to child's bed]

00:41

replacing the tooth and since you're old enough you just winked and he said yeah

00:45

I'll get you a twenty from my wallet in the morning. note that if he'd said I'll

00:48

get it for you a year and change from now. it wouldn't be a current asset it

00:54

would be a long-term asset, because current means that a promise or a

00:58

product or whatever turns into cash within a year. you mowed the lawn for the [assets listed]

01:02

summer for mrs. garden bottom and billed her $500. she paid you four hundred

01:07

ninety dollars and still owes you ten bucks. that money lives in your balance

01:11

sheet on the assets side as an account receivable. you have four hundred ninety

01:16

seven little blue marbles as your only asset which your friend Billy has

01:19

offered you tons of times to buy for twenty four dollars so you can hold that [kids exchange marbles and money]

01:24

amount as inventory. it's an asset. since you know you deal in marbles regularly.

01:28

and you paid ten dollars for ten year rights to enter your sister Jeannie's

01:32

room anytime you want. you still have eight years to go on that paper so you'd

01:36

depreciate its value at a dollar a year worth eight bucks today. total everything [balance sheet shown]

01:40

up and you have that one hundred forty two dollars in assets on your own

01:44

personal balance. sheet okay so what about your liabilities. well you have

01:48

total liabilities of a hundred dollars. you owe Joe lunch bully thirty bucks to

01:53

learn why you'll stop hitting yourself. or rather to stop doing so you owe him

01:58

thirty bucks tomorrow and you know you'll owe him sixty bucks a year in

02:02

change from now maybe more in the future and maybe not if you grow and put on a [ laughing boy is offered cash]

02:07

few pounds. but you are conservative financially so you reserve that 60 bucks

02:10

as if it's a certain long-term debt, so it goes down there on

02:15

line 13 .you borrowed ten bucks from your boo

02:18

Amy the auditor for lunch she actually submitted to you an invoice. albeit

02:22

romantically. so you have ten bucks on line eight there .so you have one hundred

02:26

forty two dollars in total assets and a hundred dollars in total liabilities, but

02:30

wait they don't balance. oh no what shall we do ?well a balance sheet accounts for

02:35

this it's called ale and it stands for assets minus liabilities equals equity. [man gives thumbs up]

02:41

well you have assets $142 we just outlined and you can subtract your

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liabilities which we just outline of a hundred bucks and you have net equity

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value to your life of $42. it looks like little brother Inc doesn't have to worry

02:55

about filing for bankruptcy anytime in the near future which is good because

02:58

with Joe lunch bully in the picture, life is hard enough as it is. [kid frowns as bully pushes his own hand in his face]

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