Run and understand the customisable Balance Sheet

Summary

How to run and understand the Balance Sheet - customisable in Sage Accounting.

Description

A customisable version of the Balance Sheet report opens when you select Balance Sheet - customisable from the Reports page.

This topic explains:

Report calculations
Differences between the old and new Balance Sheet reports
Customising the report to suit your business
Running the report for different periods
Drill down to investigate the balances

About the Balance Sheet.

Resolution

How the Balance Sheet - customisable calculates

The Balance Sheet offers flexibility in organization and calculation, with variations in layout, labelling of sections, and balancing methods.

The customisable Balance Sheet can display sections in different orders with varied calculated values, offering multiple valid methods for balance.

Current layout

Net Assets - calculated as Total Assets less Liabilities
Equity balances with Net Assets

For example:

You have the following: £8000 of Assets, £2000 of Liabilities and £6000 of Equity

Current balance sheet

Assets less Liabilities = Net Assets

8000 - 2000 = 6000

Your Equity balances with your Net Assets

Equity = 6000

Net Assets = 6000

How the Balance Sheet - customisable is different

The Balance Sheet - customisable:

Three pre-configured 'Views' to give you three ways of viewing the Balance Sheet out
Choose a new date range for each View, with clear descriptions, ensuring accurate reporting on specified ranges
Enables use of various date range types, showing totals for selected periods or as a single total
Lets you compare across periods or financial years and track the variance across periods

How to use the Balance Sheet

Compare current and previous Profit and Loss

In the Equity section, you'll find a section for your Profit and Loss for the current year and previous years.

We take this value from the account balance summarise on the Profit and Loss report.

Report on different periods or date ranges

There are three default views for the report for the most common business periods. Alternatively, use the Period filter to set your date range.

Use the Default Views at the top of the report.

Year to date: Calculate the Balance Sheet up to the end of the current month
Prior year comparison: Compare the Balance Sheet with the same period last year
Per month: This displays a monthly Balance Sheet for the current year. It has a column for the previous year's brought-forward balance

Select a period or set a custom date range

Select the Edit icon next to Period on the Customise report panel
Chose a period or set a custom date range
Choose Run Report

Compare with previous periods or years

Include extra comparison columns to gauge business performance against previous periods or the same periods in previous financial years.

This adds a column to the right with figures for the previous period or year, plus a column showing the difference. The difference displays as a percentage, an amount, or both.

From the Customise report panel, choose Columns.
Select to add a column for the Previous Period or Year.
Choose how to show the variance.
Select Run report.

Include opening and closing balances

Add columns to show the opening and closing balances.

Compare different time periods. Including the opening and closing balances, helps you see how your business is doing over time. Start with the opening balance at the beginning of the year. Track the changes over several periods, and compare it to the closing balance as of today.

From the Customise report panel, choose Columns.
Choose Year to date closing balances and /or Opening balances.
Select Run report.

Show values a cumulative amount

Show's balance sheet values as a running total from the year's start to the end of each period.

From the Customise report panel, choose Columns.
Choose As cumulative over a period of time.
Select Run Report.

Include rolled up totals or by ledger account

To see your business in more detail, expand the report to show totals for individual ledger accounts. This helps you understand where the numbers come from.

For example, under Fixed Assets, see the value of each asset type in your chart of accounts such as property, vehicles etc.

From the Customise report panel, select Rows.
Choose the Account check box.
Choose how you display the nominal code.
Select Run report.

Drill down balances

If you see balances you want to investigate, you can drill down on the balances to see details.

Select any underlined balance to see what makes it up.

For amounts spanning multiple accounts or months, the Nominal Activity Summary report opens for balance review
For a single account in a month, the Nominal Activity Detailed report opens to review account transactions

To return to the original report, close the open report (or reports) or select Back in your browser.

Save or share your report

When you're happy with your report, you can save or export it.

Select:

Save as. Name the report and save it to run again later. Find your report on the Custom tab
Or
Export. Save a copy for your records or to share with others. Choose PDF, CSV, or Excel format