QuickBooks Balance Sheet - Comprehensive Guide

We all know that QuickBooks is the best accounting software for properly organizing business finances. But do you know how they managed so well? The QuickBooks Balance Sheet does it for you. The essential financial statement records all the business’s financial activities and situations. Balance sheets help to evaluate the business or company’s ability and performance to meet financial goals. With this guide, we provide each information about the Balance Sheet in QuickBooks. But first, know more about it.

What is a QuickBooks Balance Sheet?

The balance sheet, also called the financial position statement, keeps all financial records in the accounting term. As the balance sheet describes, it keeps records of all the financial statements, including the liabilities, the company’s assets, and equity. Moreover, it summarizes your company’s financial accuracy in QuickBooks for different transactions. Additionally, the balance sheet is available in every product of QuickBooks, like the QuickBooks Online Balance sheet, and you also get QuickBooks Self Employed Balance Sheet for every product.

Any business uses the three major financial statements:- income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. These are the business’s essential statements to help make decisions for further financial activities. So companies need to create balance sheets by law like other financial statements. Moreover, you can create a QuickBooks Balance sheet by monthly, quarterly, and annual basis, according to your needs.

After knowing about balance sheets, now know how to create them with the following section:

Also Read: To Close The Book In QuickBooks Pro

How to Create a Balance Sheet in QuickBooks Desktop and Online?

Creating the QuickBooks Balance Sheet in the Desktop and Online versions is not as hard as it seems. But first, let’s understand the creation with the following steps:

Understand the Basic Equation

Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity

Owner’s Equity = Assets – Liabilities

Calculate Assets such as

Current Assets

Cash
Securities
Accounts Receivable
Inventory
Prepaid Insurance

Fixed Assets

Supplies
Property
Intangible Assets

Determine Liabilities

Current Liabilities

Accounts Payable
Business Credit Cards
Operating Line of Credit
Taxes Owed
Wages and Payroll
Unearned Revenue

Fixed Liabilities

Long-Term Mortgages
Bonds payable
Pension Benefit Obligations
Shareholder’s Loan
Car Loan

Equity Valuation

Opening Balance Equity
Capital Stock
Dividends Paid
Owner’s Draw
Retained Earnings

After getting the idea, the following are the steps for creating the QuickBooks Balance Sheet on Desktop and Online versions.

Create a Balance Sheet in QuickBooks Desktop

Firstly, open your QuickBooks Desktop.
Secondly, go to the Reports menu and then choose Company and Financial option.
After that, choose the Balance Sheet Standard.
Now, select the appropriate date range.
In the next step, click on the Customize Report button.
Here, you have to select the appropriate Display tab and check the boxes for the information you want to appear on the balance sheet.
Now, choose the appropriate Filter tab and then check the boxes for the information you want to filter.
At last, click on the OK button, and the QuickBooks balance sheet will be generated.

Also Read: QuickBooks Online Class Tracking

Create a Balance Sheet in QuickBooks Online

In the first step, log in to your QuickBooks Online account.
Go to the Accounting tab and then select the Chart of Accounts.
Next, click the New button at the top of your screen.
After that, choose the Balance Sheet from the Account Type drop-down menu.
Now, enter a name and description for your balance sheet account.
Afterward, select the details you want to include in your balance sheet.
Click Save and Close.
Now, your new QuickBooks balance sheet account will appear in your Chart of Accounts list.
To view the balance sheet, select Balance Sheet from the Reports tab.
Choose the date range you want to view.
You can also customize the report by selecting the options in the Customize Report window.
Lastly, click Run Report to view your balance sheet.

After creating the balance sheet, if you want to know where is the balance sheet in QuickBooks, then follow the given steps:

First, go to the Business Overview from your QuickBooks.
Secondly, choose Reports or go to Reports.
Lastly, click on the Balance Sheet and review it.

If you want to prepare the balance sheet accurately, go through the following section.

How to Prepare QuickBooks Balance Sheets Accurately?

Creating a balance sheet is a small task, but creating it with accuracy can sometimes be harsh. To prepare the balance sheet, you must follow the given steps:

Dates – If you are creating a balance sheet for previous months or years, you must choose a suitable date. It helps you in deciding which data you want to include. These dates will reflect in the report.
Add Your Assets – You must subtotal the liquid and non-liquid assets. After that, you must total them together at the bottom of the assets section.
Add Liabilities – You should subtotal the non-current and current liabilities specifically. After subtotal from the bottom of the liabilities section, total them together for an accurate QuickBooks balance sheet.
Determine Equity – It contains the stock and maintained earnings, among other items.
Add Liabilities and Equity together.
Comparing – You should compare the total assets, equity, and liabilities. If they are balanced perfectly, then your balance sheet is accurate.

It is necessary to keep in mind that the balance sheet should always be balanced. However, sometimes it does not because a mistake was made during the process. You should double-check your data and calculations if your balance sheet needs to balance.

If the balance sheet is out of balance, correct it with the following section.

Also Read: Overflow Errors In QuickBooks Desktop

How to Correct QuickBooks Balance Sheet Out of Balance?

There are many scenarios where the Balance sheet is out of balance. In such cases, you should fix it with the swallowing steps:

Step 1: Run the Balance Sheet on an Accrual Basis

Firstly, go to the Reports menu and choose the Company & FInancial option.
Then, select Balance Sheet Summary.
After that, choose Customize Report.
Now, from the Display tab, choose Accrual under the Report Basis.
Last, click on OK.

Now, check the balance sheet for the balance. If you still face out of balance problems on an accrual basis, you can go for rebuilding the company file. If you find that the file is out of balance on a cash basis only or still out of balance after rebuilding the file, continue with the next step.

Step 2: Find the Date When the QuickBooks Balance Sheet went Out of Balance

In this step, we will find the date when the balance sheet went out of balance to detect the transactions causing the problem. The following are the steps:

First, go to the Reports menu and choose Company & Financials.
After that, choose the Balance Sheet Summary option.
Now, choose Customize Report.
From the Display tab, uses the Dates dropdown and choose All.
In the next step, go to the Report Basis section. If you find that your QuickBooks balance sheet is out of balance on an accrual basis only, then choose Accrual. Otherwise, choose Cash.
Now, from the Columns section, use the Display Columns by dropdown, choose the Year, and click OK.
Last, compare all your Total Assets with the Total Liabilities & Equity, then find where your balance sheet goes out of balance.

After finding the year, now follow the same steps to narrow down the particular date when the QuickBooks balance sheet goes out of balance.

Repeat steps 1 to 7 above, but choose the Month option from the Display Columns by dropdown.
After getting the month, repeat the same steps above and choose the Week option from the Display Columns by dropdown.
After getting the week, repeat the same steps again and choose Day from the dropdown.
Now, you have the particular date when your balance sheet goes out of balance.

After finding the date, follow step 3.

Step 3: Find the Faulty Transactions

Here, we will find the transaction that made the QuickBooks balance sheet out of balance. To do so, we run a Custom Transaction Detail report of the date you noted in the above step. The following are the steps:

In the first step, choose Custom Report from the Reports menu.
Then, choose Transaction Detail.
Now, from the Modify Report window, you have to browse the Report Date Range section.
Next, in the From and TO fields, enter the Date when the balance sheet goes out of balance.
After that, navigate to the Report Basis section. If you find that your QuickBooks balance sheet is out of balance on an accrual basis only, then choose Accrual. Otherwise, choose Cash.
Now, in the Columns section, unmark the Account, Clr, Split, and Class.
Choose the Amount option to make the report easy to read.
Then, choose the Paid Amount column and click on OK.
Now, in the Paid Amount column, the ending balance equals the out of balance. Go through the balance sheet to find transactions added to this amount.

Also Read: QuickBooks Self-Employed

Step 4: Re-Date the Transactions

After getting the transaction or transactions which are cheating the QuickBooks balance sheet out of balance, you have to change the Date for them. Also, create a note of their current dates. After that, edit the date on each transaction for a day 20 years in the future.
Then, Save each transaction.
Now, Refresh the balance sheet. If you find the correct transactions, you will see Zero in the Paid Amount Column.
Lastly, find the transactions you have dated into the future and then date them to the original date. Note: The re-dating step can re-link the transactions and repairs them.

If changing the transaction dates doesn’t help you, you can delete and re-enter them.

However, if you want to edit the Balance sheet, go with the following:

How to Edit Balance Sheet in QuickBooks?

Following are the steps to edit the QuickBooks balance sheet:

First, select Accounting and then Chart of Accounts.
Then, select the Balance Sheet account from the Chart of Accounts window you want to edit.
After that, in the Balance Sheet window, select the Edit button.
Now, make the necessary changes to the account and select Save.
Once changes have been made, select the File drop-down menu and then select Close.

Also Read: Import Credit Card Transactions Into QuickBooks

How to Use QuickBooks Balance Sheets?

To make use of the balance sheet in QuickBooks, the following are the steps:

Open QuickBooks and click on the “Reports” tab.
From the drop-down list, you have to choose Select “Company & Financial”.
Click on the “Balance Sheet Standard” report.
Select the date range.
Click on the “Run Report” button to generate the balance sheet.
Review the report to check the accuracy of your financial information.
Make any necessary adjustments to the balance sheet.
Save the balance sheet to your computer for future reference.

What is the Importance of QuickBooks Balance Sheets?

The balance sheet is essential for several reasons. First, it allows users to see the company’s assets and liabilities, which can help them understand its financial strength and ability to pay its debts. Second, it provides information about the company’s equity, which can be used to calculate critical financial ratios such as the debt-to-equity ratio, which can help users assess the company’s risk profile. Finally, the balance sheet is a valuable tool for making financial projections and planning for the future.

Also Read: Create/Track Budget in QuickBooks Desktop

Below are some valuable advantages of the QuickBooks balance sheet:

Monitor financial account accuracy.
Examine a company’s financial situation.
Prepare financial statements such as income, equity, and cash flow statements.
Determine potential discrepancies between two accounts.
Monitor cash flow and evaluate liquidity.
Identify cash flow or capital investment shortfalls.
To compare current and previous performance.
To categorize expenses for budgeting purposes.
Assisting with internal and external audits.

Wrapping Up

The QuickBooks balance sheet is an essential financial statement that provides information about a company’s assets, liabilities, and equity. It is one of the three fundamental financial statements, along with the income statement and the statement of cash flows. It is used to assess the company’s financial health and make financial projections. However, if you face any issues while creating the balance, you can reach our ProAdvisors to resolve the problem. Thank You!

How to Create, Edit, and Use QuickBooks Balance Sheet?