> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hitaji360.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Balance Sheet

> The Balance Sheet is a snapshot of what the business owns and owes at a single moment: its assets, its liabilities, and the equity that ties them…

The Balance Sheet is a snapshot of what the business owns and owes at a single moment: its assets, its liabilities, and the equity that ties them together. It answers "what is the financial position right now?" and proves, by the accounting equation, that **Assets = Liabilities + Equity**.

You'll find this at: `/accounting/reports/balance-sheet`

> 📷 *Screenshot: Balance Sheet with Assets on the left, Liabilities and Equity on the right, and the balanced/variance badge — to be added.*

## When to use it

* At period- or year-end to report the financial position to owners, lenders, or auditors.
* To check liquidity and solvency — how much cash and receivables stand against payables and loans.
* To confirm the books balance: the report tells you outright whether assets equal liabilities plus equity.

## How to run it

The Balance Sheet is an *as-of* report — it shows positions at one date, not activity over a range.

* **As of date** — set the date you want the position for. It defaults to today.

That's the only input. The report refreshes automatically; a **Refresh** button re-pulls the latest figures.

## Reading the report

The statement is laid out in two columns: **Assets** on the left, **Liabilities** and **Equity** on the right. Each section lists its accounts, indented to follow your chart's structure, with the account code, name, and balance. Each section header shows its total.

| Section         | What it contains                                                                              |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Assets**      | What the business owns — cash, bank, receivables, inventory, fixed assets, and so on.         |
| **Liabilities** | What the business owes — payables, tax payable, loans, customer deposits.                     |
| **Equity**      | Owners' capital and accumulated earnings, including **Retained Earnings / Current Earnings**. |

### Retained earnings

The report computes a **Retained Earnings / Current Earnings** line automatically from the period's income and expenses (income increases it, expenses reduce it) and shows it within Equity. You don't post to this line — it's derived so the sheet balances.

### Is it balanced?

At the bottom, two totals sit side by side:

* **Total Assets**
* **Total Liabilities + Equity**

A green **Balanced** badge confirms the two are equal. If they differ, a red **Variance** badge shows the gap. A variance points to an out-of-balance ledger — start with the [Trial Balance](/accounting/user/reports/trial-balance), whose Difference figure should be zero.

> 📷 *Screenshot: The two totals tiles with the green "Balanced" badge — to be added.*

## A note on contra accounts

Some accounts naturally reduce their section rather than add to it — for example **Accumulated Depreciation** sits under Assets but carries a credit balance. The Balance Sheet handles these correctly, netting them down against their section total instead of inflating it, so the figures read the way an accountant expects.

## Exporting

**Export** offers CSV, Excel (.xlsx), and PDF. The export lists each account under its section (Assets, Liabilities, Equity) with its code, name (indented by depth), and balance, followed by **Total Assets** and **Total Liabilities + Equity**. The PDF carries your business name and the as-of date in the header.

## Tips and gotchas

* **Empty sheet?** If the report shows no balances, confirm the active business points at the book that holds the data and that the chart of accounts has been set up (the Reports hub shows a chart-setup status pill).
* The Balance Sheet reflects **posted** activity as of the chosen date.
* Accounts with a zero balance are omitted to keep the statement readable.
* For a closed/locked period, the figures come from the frozen snapshot taken at close, so a prior period's Balance Sheet stays fixed even if a correcting entry lands later.

## Related

* [Reports overview](/accounting/user/reports/overview)
* [Trial Balance](/accounting/user/reports/trial-balance) — start here if the sheet shows a variance
* [Profit & Loss](/accounting/user/reports/profit-and-loss) — the earnings that flow into equity
* [Cash Flow](/accounting/user/reports/cash-flow) — reconciles the cash line's movement