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Article: Reading a balance sheet.(Checklist 130)
- Article from:
- Chartered Management Institute: Checklists: Small Business
- Article date:
- October 1, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Chartered Management Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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[check] This checklist is designed to help you read and understand a balance sheet. It is intended as a guide, not as a replacement for full accounting support and interpretation.
Definition
A balance sheet is a snapshot of a company's financial position at a given date. It differs from a profit and loss account which summarises a company's trading performance during a given period. The date of the balance sheet is always disclosed in the heading and the figures are (or should be) correct as at that date.
Every balance sheet includes the balance of every account in the accounting system. Accounts are not usually shown individually, but those of ...