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{{B}}HOW TO READ A BALANCE SHEET{{/B}} A balance sheet is not like a Profit and Loss ac- count, which is a record of the activity transacted in a year and the profits (or losses) produced as a result. A balance sheet can be{{U}} (21) {{/U}}of as a photograph, a moment{{U}} (22) {{/U}}time, (usually the last day of the company's financial year), which shows exactly what the business owns. These may be buildings, cash, stocks or debts, i.e. amounts of money{{U}} (23) {{/U}}to the business by customers. A balance sheet may change from one Year to the next if, for example, a company sells one of its factories, if it{{U}} (24) {{/U}}more money from its shareholders, if it repays some debt to the bank, or if it builds up its inventory of{{U}} (25) {{/U}}goods. But whatever happens to the composition of the assets of the business, any overall change in as- set{{U}} (26) {{/U}}is reflected in me balance sheet. There is one further{{U}} (27) {{/U}}to be made. Although the principle of a balance sheet is to have assets on one side and liabilities on the other, the fact is that-especially for public companies-shareholders want to be able to see What their{{U}} (28) {{/U}}in the company is worth. So a tradition bas{{U}} (29) {{/U}}up which has meant that 'Creditors' is actually moved to the assets side as a negative amount. Structuring the balance sheet like this is simply a matter of{{U}} (30) {{/U}}There is no commercial reason for presenting it in this way. |