Categories: Accounting

What is Balance Sheet/Statement of Financial Position

&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;left&semi;margin&colon;0px 0px 0px 0&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Balance sheet is the statement of financial position of a company&period; It depicts the financial position &lpar;sound or weak&rpar; of a company on a specific date&period; The basic concept involved in balance sheet is that the assets are equal to outside liabilities and owners’ equity&period; The resources or asset of an organization are always generated through financing&period; This financing is provided by two sources which internal or external&period; Internal sources are owners or shareholders who provide capital through investment and reinvesting the profits earned over the periods&period; External sources on the other hand provide financing through extended credit usually called creditors and granting loans to the firm&period; It makes sense that the whole financing must be utilized some where in generating resources or assets for the firm&comma; therefore&comma; the value of the firm’s resources must equate the value of whole financing whether internal or external&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">The balance sheet forms an integral part of financial statements and extensively used by many stakeholders to judge the financial strength of the company&period; It demonstrates that how the financial resources are being utilized to generate resources for the firm and what type of resources the firm actually generated over the period&period; It further guides in inventing whether the financing has generally been employed in high return assets or it may have been wasted in assets with lower potential&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">The items in the balance sheet are segregated into the following&colon; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">Assets-Resource Section <&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Assets are resources in which the funds are invested&period; The main categories of assets are&colon; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"justify">Fixed assets <&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">&lbrack;linkunit&rsqb;The assets with useful life of more than one year and are depreciated over their useful life&period; Fixed assets are represented on historical costs with accumulated depreciation on the fixed assets on the other side of the balance sheet&period; Annual depreciation is charged to the income statement as expense against revenue generation for that period&period; Some times revaluation gains and impairment losses on the fixed assets are also entertained in the books of accounts&period; The examples of fixed assets include land and buildings&comma; equipment&comma; plant and machinery&comma; and furniture and fixture etc&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"justify">Current Assets <&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">The assets with useful life lesser than one year are called current assets&period; Such assets form part of working capital and result in lower return as compare to fixed assets&period; Some investment in the current assets is compulsory for a firm such as accounts receivables&comma; inventories&comma; short term securities&comma; and cash and bank balances&period; However&comma; companies can adopt aggressive or conservative policies with respect to investment in current assets&period; In aggressive policies little investment is made to strengthen the profitability and with conservative policies usually handsome investment is made in current assets to strengthen the liquidity position of the company&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad2" id&equals;"quads-ad2" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px 0 0px 0&semi;text-align&colon;center&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">&lbrack;adsense&rsqb;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"justify">Intangible Assets <&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Intangible assets are unseen assets such as reputation of the company named as goodwill&period; Goodwill is calculated through recommended valuation methods&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"justify">Long Term Investments <&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">There may be some long term investments made by a company&period; Such investments are shown separately in the assets section of the balance sheet&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">Liabilities-Financing Section <&sol;h2>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"justify">Shareholders’ Funds – Owners’ Equity<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">This is called equity section of the balance sheet where capital funds invested by the owners or shareholders are presented&period; Along with capital funds the reinvestment of the profits over the periods is also cumulated and shown in this section as addition to the equity&period; The movement in shareholders’ funds over the years is also required to disclose as per international financial reporting standards&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"justify">Long Term Liabilities <&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">External funds provided by banks or other financial institutions as debt for a longer time horizon usually more than one year&period; Some times companies issue bonds or debentures to arrange finance from the general public&period; Such bonds or debentures are also presented in this section of the balance sheet&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"justify">Current Liabilities <&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Claims on the current assets of the company are called current liabilities&period; Such liabilities have to be settled within a financial year&period; Main part of current liabilities is creditors extending credit of raw materials to the firm&period; In addition there may be some accrued expenses such as outstanding salaries or rents etc are also treated as short term claim on business and are presented in current liabilities&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Example of Balance Sheet<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"left">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"center">Hypothetical Company<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"center">Balance Sheet<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h3 align&equals;"center">As at Jun 30 20XX<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p> &&num;160&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div>&NewLine;<table cellspacing&equals;"0" cellpadding&equals;"0" width&equals;"633" border&equals;"0">&NewLine;<tbody>&NewLine;<tr>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"234"> <b>Liabilities and Owners&&num;8217&semi; Equity<&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"79"> <b>Amount &dollar;<&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"219"> <b>Asset<&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"99"> <b>Amount &dollar;<&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<&sol;tr>&NewLine;<tr>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"234">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"79">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"219">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"99">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<&sol;tr>&NewLine;<tr>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"234"> <b>Shareholders&&num;8217&semi; Equity&colon;<&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"79">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"219"> <b>Fixed Assets&colon;<&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"99"> XXXX<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<&sol;tr>&NewLine;<tr>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"234"> Equity Capital<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"79"> XXXX<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"219"> Land and Building<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"99"> XXXX<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<&sol;tr>&NewLine;<tr>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"234"> Reserves<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"79"> XXXX<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"219"> Machinery and Equipment<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"99"> XXXX<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<&sol;tr>&NewLine;<tr>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"234">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"79">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"219"> Furniture and Fixture<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"99"> XXXX<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<&sol;tr>&NewLine;<tr>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"234"> <b>Long-term Liabilities&colon;<&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"79">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"219">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"99">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<&sol;tr>&NewLine;<tr>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"234"> Bonds<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"79"> XXXX<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"219"> <b>Current Assets&colon;<&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"99">&&num;160&semi;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<&sol;tr>&NewLine;<tr>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"234"> Bank Loan<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"79"> XXXX<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;td>&NewLine;<td valign&equals;"bottom" width&equals;"219"> Accounts Receivable&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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