How to prepare balance sheet
4. Example of preparing balance sheet
There are several steps in preparing a balance sheet. These steps are not prescribed procedures, so there may be variations based on your company’s needs and situation. Let’s review each step in detail.
4.1. Step 1: Prepare balance sheet template
A balance sheet template is a blank format with header, date, categories, and components of categories. The template can be prepared on paper, or better off, it can be prepared in a spreadsheet software (e.g. MS Excel).
For our illustration, we prepared a balance sheet template in MS Excel and presented it below. The template is in the vertical format due to width limitations on our website:
Illustration 4: Balance sheet template
Your Company Name |
||
ASSETS |
||
Current Assets: |
||
Cash & Cash Equivalents |
||
Marketable Securities |
||
Accounts Receivable |
||
Inventories |
||
Prepaid Expenses |
||
Total Current Assets |
||
Fixed Assets |
||
Intangible Assets |
||
Investments |
||
Other Non-current Assets |
||
TOTAL ASSETS |
||
LIABILITIES |
||
Current Liabilities: |
||
Accounts Payable |
||
Accrued Expenses |
||
Short-term Loans |
||
Current Portion of LT Debt |
||
Income Taxes Payable |
||
Total Current Liabilities |
||
Non-current Liabilities: |
||
Line of Credit |
||
Term Loan |
||
Total Non-current Liabilities |
||
TOTAL LIABILITIES |
||
EQUITY |
||
Capital |
||
Current Year Earnings |
||
Retained Earnings |
||
TOTAL EQUITY |
||
TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY |
||
The spaces highlighted in light green are the ones where we will enter amounts taken from the trial balance.
online accounting course:
