Build a Simple Balance Sheet
- 05:25
Understand how to construct a balance sheet
Glossary
Balance sheet EquationTranscript
In this question, we're being asked to decide whether these items are non-current assets, current assets, current liabilities, non-current liabilities or equity. We're going to indicate our answer in this column just below. If you want to pause the recording here and have a go, please do so now. So stock in the warehouse. Typically, stock will be held for less than 12 months and that is an asset to the business. And because it's held for less than 12 months, that makes it a current asset. Amounts owed to suppliers. Well, that's accounts payable. Accounts payable, we typically don't owe for longer than 12 months. So again, it's going to be current. Because it's money owed, that's a current liability.
Vehicles using the business, well, that's an asset and we typically do use them for longer than 12 months. If it's longer than 12 months, that means it's a non-current asset.
Money market securities. This is often where there's a company that has some cash left over and they invest it to earn a return. That basically means it's the same as cash and we're going to treat it as current assets. We typically don't hold them for longer than 12 months. Seed capital invested by owners for shares, that's an example of equity. Profit from previous years reinvested. So we've made some profit, and what do we do with it? We put it back into the business. That goes into retained earnings within the balance sheets. That's in our equity section. That money is basically owed back to the shareholders. Monies owed by customers is otherwise known as accounts receivable. But how long do we give our customers to pay? Well, normally, it's less than 12 months and that makes it a current item. Because it's money owed to me, it's a current asset. Cash in the bank accounts, again, same as money market securities, a current asset. Income tax owed. Well, that's a liability and typically, the tax authority does not give us longer than 12 months. So it's going to be a current liability. Bank borrowings repaid in 10 years, well, over 10 years, that's definitely going to be over 12 months. So it's not going to be a current, it's going to be a non-current, and because it's borrowings, that makes it a non-current liability.
Dividends announced but unpaid, well, that's a liability, and again, that's going to be a current liability because we typically pay that out in quite a short period of time. Bank overdraft, that's typically short-term liabilities, so current liability. And the last one, machines. Companies typically buy these and use these into the long term, over 12 months, making it a non-current asset. Now, the next workout asked us to place those items from the previous question in the balance sheet below and ensure that the balance sheet balances when you're finished.
You can see I've done some of the subtotals already and I've revealed the formulas. Let's see if we can fill in the other items. So we'll start with cash and there were two items that go in here. We firstly had the money market securities and we have cash in the company bank account. Next up, accounts receivable. Well, we did have an item that fits into accounts receivable. That was monies owed by customers. Next up, inventory. Again, we had some stock in the warehouse. That was right at the top of 263.4. So I've now got my current assets. I now need to ask were there any property, plant and equipment items? Well, there certainly were. There were two. We had machines. Machines, they're going to come under property, plant and equipment. And we also had vehicles So we'll include those vehicles as well. So I've now got my total assets of 3,091.7. I want to get to liabilities and equity of the same number. So we start with short-term debt. With short-term debt, we had one item that fits that. That was the bank overdraft, owing money to the bank. Accounts payable, this is where we owe money to our suppliers. Again, we did have an item here, amounts owed to suppliers. 721.2. Tax payable, that was tax owed to the tax authority. And dividends payable was dividends announced but unpaid to shareholders. I've got my current liabilities, I'm partly on the way there to the 3,091.7, but still have a bit of a way to go. Long-term debt was next and we did have a long-term debt item. The bank borrowings, repaid in 10 years. That's given me all of my non-current liabilities and current liabilities. So next up is the equity section. So we start with share capital and the share capital was the seed capital invested by the owners for shares. And lastly, the retained earnings was the profits reinvested, 202.8. So I now check, does my total liabilities and equity equal my total assets? It does, and we'll notice that the balance check at the bottom equals zero.