Balance Sheet
The term’s balance sheet definition can be described as a financial statement that a company uses to report its liabilities, assets, and shareholders’ equity at a given time. A balance sheet is a baseline allowing a company to evaluate its capital structure. At the same time, it makes it possible for a company to compute its investors’ rate of return.
In other words, a balance sheet shows an overall view of what a company owns and owes, but at the same time, it indicates the shareholder’s investments. Balance sheets can also be used to oversee fundamental analysis or to calculate financial ratios for that company.
How do Balance Sheets Work?
While balance sheets provide a snapshot image of the company’s finances at any given time, they do not give any inputs on trends on their own. By looking at a balance sheet, real estate investors can not estimate where the company will be in the future or where it had been in the past from a financial standpoint. However, if you take previous balance sheets and compare them to the most current one a company has, that can give at least an impression of potential upcoming trends.
Based on ratios derived from balance sheets, investors can understand how a company is dealing financially. Some ratios are the debt-to-equity ratio and acid-test ratio, but the list is long. Income statements, cash statements, or other addenda related to a company’s earnings usually refer back to the balance sheet and can give a more concrete picture of a company’s finances.
The Balance Sheet Formula
Assets = Liabilities + Shareholder’s Equity
The formula is simple and straightforward. A company needs to pay the things it owns through the money it borrows (liabilities) and/or money from investors (shareholder’s equity).
To give an example, if a company takes a loan for five years of $6,000 from a bank, the asset owned by the company increases by $6,000. Similarly, if the company takes the same amount from investors, the company’s assets and shareholder equity will grow by the same amount. The two balance themselves out. Any revenue generated that exceeds its expenses will go into the shareholder’s equity account. The revenues will balance the asset’s side of the formula either as cash, inventory, investments, or other assets.
Popular Real Estate Terms
People say, in real estate, there's a lot more than meets the eye. If you're connected to the housing market in any way, you've probably heard the term "implicit cost." It sounds fancy, but ...
Bank financing to a homeowner based on his dollar equity in the home. The interest rate typically fluctuates such as being based on the change in the prime interest rate. Interest expense ...
The appellant definition references a concept related to legal proceedings. The appellant is the individual who is dissatisfied with the judgment in a lawsuit and asks for a superior court ...
Detailed financial accounting of all the credits and debits for the buyer and seller upon consummation of a real estate sale. ...
Board used when connected as a floor. It may also be used as a strip in a wall or door. ...
material placed on the outside surface of a structure such as aluminum or vinyl siding on a house. It is cost-efficient because it eliminates the need for repeated painting. Siding provides ...
Reduction of part of the balance of property by charging an expense or loss account. The reason for a write-down is that some economic event has occurred indicating that the asset's value ...
Timber in an original form, such as a pole. ...
One tenth of a cent. Mills are a common term in expressing tax rates per dollar of assessed valuation. For example, a property is taxed at the rate of 80 mills. If a property were assessed ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.