Balance Sheet Templates Key Terms

Some key terms for using balance sheet templates

By J. Stoltzfus, writer/programmer, LOCAL CITIZEN

Balance sheet templates allow business leaders to take a good look at what they will be crafting over the years that their business carries a profit or loss. A balance sheet is a key financial document, something that accountants can quickly look at to devise tax liabilities or any other applicable uses. Learning about some of the basic terms for balance sheets will help business decision makers who are dealing with specializing balance sheet templates for their specific shops.

Assets

When it comes to balance sheet templates, assets generally fall into a category to be included in one column. Assets are any valuable holdings either tangible (like land) or intangible (like bonds) that a company or business holds.
Try: See a definition of assets at Millionaire Money Habits. See assets included in a balance sheet template at Your Business Pal.

Liabilities

Liabilities are usually included in another area of a balance sheet template. Liabilities are sometimes thought of as the "opposite" of assets. Liabilities are any values a business owes or anything that is balanced against positive accumulated value.
Try: Find out more about liabilities and a special category, long term liabilities, that are included in balance sheet templates, at AllBusiness.

Payables

Payables are another category in a balance sheet template. Payables are any amounts that a business plans to collect. These can be in the form of notes or other formats that get recorded separately on detailed balance sheets.
Try: See a definition of payables at this Princeton dictionary site. See notes payable and other payables in a balance sheet template from SCORE.

Vertical and horizontal balance sheets

Some of the formats you might see on a balance sheet template include both vertical and horizontal options. While a vertical balance sheet includes numbers as part of a year's whole, a horizontal balance sheet is likely to show them over a period of several years.
Try: See more on vertical versus horizontal balance sheet accounting at this Accounting Coach blog.

Consolidated statement

A balance sheet template can also be set up to accommodate a consolidated statement, where all of the various parts of a business will report as one collective whole.
Try: See more on the consolidated statement at the Business Dictionary.

Sarbanes Oxley

The somewhat recent legislation known as Sarbanes-Oxley or SOX regulates how businesses report their numbers. SOX applies to balance sheets, and some balance sheet templates may indicate this to be sure that business leaders know about their responsibilities.
Try: Read up on Sarbanes Oxley for balance sheets at Asset Management Resources.