What's A Balance Sheet...?

I did a ‘Business Finance’ module during my degree, but never grasped what the Balance Sheet did. In my corporate career, I worked with some excellent Finance Directors, and I still didn’t get what the Balance Sheet was. Since running my own business, various accountants have tried to explain it to me, and even though I ‘got it’ at the time, it didn’t stick. Then I read a well-written, two page summary of what a Balance Sheet is, how it ‘balances, why it’s important, and now I really do get it - and, more importantly, I’m now able to read and understand my own.

Just because we don’t get something the first (few) time(s), it doesn’t mean we never will - maybe it was the teacher, maybe it was the pupil we were, or maybe it was just that we weren’t ready to learn…