A balance sheet is a snapshot picture of what a company owns and what a company owes. It is considered a snapshot because it looks at a company at a specific point in time.
Another name for a balance sheet is a statement of financial position.
The major components of a balance sheet are it’s assets (what it owns), liabilities (what it owes), and equity (the net difference between the assets and liabilities).
A balance sheet is one of the major parts of a complete set of financial statements. The other parts of a set of financial statements are an income statement (or profit and loss) and a statement of cash flows.
