The Balance Sheet shows the position of the business on one day: its assets (what it owns and is owed), its liabilities (what it owes) and its equity (what is left for the owners). Assets always equal liabilities plus equity, and SeroBooks checks that on every read.
You can read it two ways:
- The Balance Sheet Accounting screen: a working view with a balance banner, totals, folding sections, a comparison column and a double-click into any account's ledger.
- The Balance Sheet reports in the Report Centre: the QuickBooks-style Standard, Detail, Summary, Prev Year Comparison, by Month and by Class reports.
Opening it
- Reports ▸ Company & Financial ▸ Balance Sheet, under the grey Accounting screens heading, opens the Accounting screen. You can also search "balance sheet" in Go To / Look Up (Ctrl+K).
- Reports ▸ Company & Financial ▸ Balance Sheet Standard and the other Balance Sheet entries open the reports. They are also in the Report Centre under Company & Financial.
As at a day, not over a range
A balance sheet adds up everything ever posted to each asset, liability and equity account up to the date you choose. Only the end of the period matters: changing the start date does not change the figures, and the screen's title reads as at 2026-09-25 rather than showing a range. An asset bought three years ago is still on today's balance sheet, as it should be.
The Balance Sheet screen
Read the balance sheet on a date
- Open the screen. It shows the books as at today.
- Click Period and choose a period that ends on the date you want, for example Last year for last year-end, or Exact dates… for a particular day. Click Apply.
- Check the banner: it should be green.
- Read the tiles and the table. Double-click an account to see what makes up its balance.
The buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Period | Opens the Reporting period picker (presets, months, or Exact dates…). Only the end date counts. |
| Compare | Opens Compare with: No comparison, Previous period or Same period last year. The button then shows the column's name, Prior period or Last year. |
| Collapse all / Expand all | Folds the statement down to Assets, Liabilities and Equity with their totals, or opens it all again. |
| Refresh | Reads the books again. |
A line under the buttons reminds you the figures are read straight from the ledger. If a refresh fails while earlier figures are showing, an amber note says so. A banner at the very top appears when documents have not reached the ledger; see Trial Balance.
The balance banner
| Banner | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Balanced — assets $X = liabilities + equity (green) | The books balance on this date. |
| OUT OF BALANCE by $X — assets $A vs liabilities + equity $B (amber) | They do not. See Common problems. |
The tiles
Assets, Liabilities and Equity: the three totals. Equity includes the two calculated earnings lines described below.
The table
Three sections, Assets, Liabilities and Equity. Inside each, accounts are grouped by sub-type (for example cash_and_cash_equivalents, accounts_receivable, fixed_assets, accounts_payable, owners_equity) with a subtotal per group. A sub-type with only one account shows it directly under the section.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Account | The section, group or account. |
| Balance | The balance as at the date. |
| Prior period or Last year | With a comparison: the balance as at the comparison date. |
| Change | Balance less the comparison balance, blank when unchanged. |
| % | The change as a percentage of the comparison balance; a dash when the comparison balance was zero. |
Click a section or group heading to fold or open it. Folded rows still count in every total. When there is nothing to show, the table says No balance-sheet entries in this period.
Retained earnings and current period earnings
Profit sits in income and expense accounts, not in an equity account, so SeroBooks works out two equity lines itself:
| Line | What it is |
|---|---|
| Retained earnings (prior years) | All income less expenses dated before the start of the fiscal year that contains the balance sheet date. |
| Current period earnings | Income less expenses from the start of that fiscal year to the balance sheet date. |
The fiscal year comes from Edit ▸ Preferences… ▸ Accounting ▸ First month of the fiscal year. No closing journal entry is needed at year end: on the first day of a new fiscal year, last year's earnings move into Retained earnings (prior years) by themselves. Neither line is an account, so double-clicking it opens nothing; run the Profit & Loss to see what makes it up. A line with a zero amount is left out. See Set Closing Date and Year-End.
Comparisons
| Choice | Column shows |
|---|---|
| Previous period | The balance as at the day before your period starts. With a period of 1 January to 30 September, you see the position on 31 December beside the position on 30 September: opening against closing. |
| Same period last year | The balance as at the same date a year earlier (the last day of a month stays the last day of the month). |
Drilling down and exporting
Double-click an account (or select it and press Enter) to open its ledger: Opening, Movements, Closing, then every line with a running balance. Lines from invoices and credit memos open the document. See Drilling down from a report.
The table's export and email buttons save the Balance Sheet titled As at [date], with against the comparison date when one is shown. See Print, export and email a report.
The Balance Sheet reports
These run in the report viewer; see Running a report. Most take one As of date.
| Report | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Balance Sheet Standard | ASSETS: Current Assets (cash, receivables and other current assets), Fixed Assets and Other Assets, each with a total, then TOTAL ASSETS. LIABILITIES & EQUITY: Current Liabilities (payables, credit cards and other current liabilities), Long Term Liabilities, Total Liabilities, then Equity with your equity accounts, Retained Earnings (prior years), Net Income (current period) and Total Equity, and finally TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY. Sub-accounts sit indented under their parent. |
| Balance Sheet Detail | Every posting behind each balance sheet account up to the date: Date, Type, Num, Name, Amount and a running Balance, with a total per account and per section. |
| Balance Sheet Summary | One line per section (Current Assets, Fixed Assets, Other Assets, Current Liabilities, Long Term Liabilities, Equity) and the totals. Each line opens the Balance Sheet Standard for the same date. |
| Balance Sheet Prev Year Comparison | The Standard layout with two columns, the date and the same date a year earlier, plus $ Change and % Change. |
| Balance Sheet by Month | Takes a date range and shows the balance at each month end, with the last column at the end date. Up to 12 columns; a longer range shows the last 12 month ends and says Only the last 12 month-ends are shown. Narrow the period to see earlier ones. |
| Balance Sheet by Class | Every balance sheet account in a column per class, an Unclassified column and a TOTAL, with a Retained Earnings & Net Income line per class. A note explains that a class column balances only when every line of an entry carries the same class. |
Each account line opens Transaction Detail by Account. Net Income (current period) opens the Profit & Loss.
If the Standard report does not balance, it says so in a note: THIS BALANCE SHEET DOES NOT BALANCE — assets exceed liabilities and equity by …. Do not file from it. Run the Trial Balance to find the entry at fault.
Where each account appears
The section is decided by the account's type and sub-type in the Chart of Accounts:
| Sub-type | Section on the reports |
|---|---|
| cash_and_cash_equivalents, accounts_receivable, current_assets | Current Assets |
| fixed_assets | Fixed Assets |
| non_current_assets | Other Assets |
| accounts_payable, credit_card, current_liabilities | Current Liabilities |
| non_current_liabilities | Long Term Liabilities |
| owners_equity | Equity |
An account whose sub-type is missing falls into Current Assets, Current Liabilities or Equity by its type. Fixed assets you track in the Fixed Asset Manager appear here only through their accounts: the cost you posted to the fixed asset account less the depreciation posted to accumulated depreciation.
Permissions
The Balance Sheet reads the books and changes nothing. Anyone whose role can view accounting reports can open it. See Roles and permissions explained.
Tips
- Set the period to your whole fiscal year then click Compare and choose Previous period: the comparison column is the position the day before the year began, so you see opening against closing in one view.
- Check that Cash, Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable agree with your bank reconciliation and your customer and vendor balances before handing the books to your accountant.
- An Opening Balance Equity balance that never clears usually means opening balances were only half entered. See Enter Opening Balances.
Common problems
The banner says OUT OF BALANCE. Every entry SeroBooks writes balances, so a difference points to a damaged entry. Run the Trial Balance for the same date; if it is also out, find the entry in Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes ▸ Journal.
Changing the start date does nothing. A balance sheet is as at a day; only the end date counts.
Retained earnings looks wrong after year end. Check First month of the fiscal year in Preferences. Retained earnings (prior years) is everything before the fiscal year that contains the date.
An asset I sold is still on the balance sheet. Disposing of it in the Fixed Asset Manager posts the entry that removes it. Marking the item sold anywhere else does not.
The equity lines cannot be opened. They are calculated, not accounts. Use the Profit & Loss for the matching period.