As a Business Plan Consultant, I often see businesses concentrate on their Profit and Loss Statement and Cash Flow Statement without much consideration to the Balance Sheet. This is a mistake! The Balance sheet is important because it:
- Shows the result of past decisions
- Keeps track of a company’s cash position liquidity
- Records what the Owner’s Equity position is at different time intervals
- Directly affected by the Cash Flow and Income Statements, which reflect the status of the company’s operation
- speedily shows the Condition of a Business
A balance sheet shows how a business’ liabilities, assets and net worth are located at a particular point in time or time period. The format of the balance sheet really does well to facilitate analysis. The order of the itemized categories in the balance sheet is ordered in decreasing liquidity and the immediacy for the liabilities and assets respectively. It is an excellent control and measurement tool as the balance sheet clearly shows the changes in net worth, debt, and the company’s overall condition over time. Let’s first look at the important sections of the balance sheet before we get into how to analyze it. At the end of the article I include a sample balance sheet in simple format.
- Current Assets: Cash, Government and Marketable Securities, Notes Receivable, Accounts Receivable, Inventories and Prepaid Expenses. Any other item that can be converted to Cash within one year.
- Fixed Assets: Land, Plant, Equipment, Leasehold Improvements. Other items that are expected to have a useful business life which can be measured in years.
- Depreciation applied to items that wear out.
- Other Assets: Intangibles such as Copyrights, Patents, Contract Exclusivity and Notes Receivable from Company Employees and Officers.
- Current Liabilities: Accounts and Notes Payable; Expenses that Accrue (such as Wages, Salaries, Withholding, FICA); Taxes Payable; Current part of Long Term Debt; and other Obligations coming due within a year.
- Long Term Liabilities: Trust Deeds, Mortgages, Equipment Loans and Long Term Bank Loans. All of these are Net of the current part of Long Term Debt (appears as a Current Liability).
- Net Worth: Assets minus Liabilities.
- Owners Equity: Principals Equity Stake, Retained Earnings and other Equity.
Analyzing The Balance Sheet
Three ways to quickly determine the health of your business:
1) Analyze Working Capital: Subtract Current Liabilities from Current Assets to determine your Working Capital level. Cash is only part of Working Capital.
a) Illiquid Businesses can have a hard time securing future loans. Solutions are Working Capital Loans, Fixed Asset Sale, Financing Accounts Payable or Securing New Equity Investment.
2) Compare Fixed Period Balance Sheets: By comparing similar periods of time, you can quickly spot Trends and Weak Areas, which upon investigation, you can determine the reasons driving them. If you are an established Company, compare yearend Balance Sheets. If a new company, compare Balance Sheets from one quarter to the next. Upon analysis, problem areas and strong areas jump right off the paper!
3) Current and Acid Test Ratios: These analyses are percentage verses dollars based so it is easy to compare against industry and area norms of similar companies.
a) Current Ratio: Measures a Company’s Liquidity or its ability to meet current obligations in the next year.
i. Formula: Current Assets ÷ Current Liabilities
ii. In order for the analysis to mean anything it is important to understand what is represented by this ratio.
Factors affecting the Current Ratio are Type of Inventory, Quality of Receivables, Sales Cycle Timing, Time of Year, etc. A ratio of 2.0 typically represents a healthy company but it really dependent on the type of company and industry.
b) Acid Test: The “Quick Ratio” is derived by dividing a Company’s Most Liquid Assets by Current Liabilities. Liquid Assets include Cash, Securities and Current Accounts Receivable. A ratio of 1.0 typically represents a healthy company but is company and industry particular.
Note: A 2.0 Current Ratio and 1.0 Acid Test (Quick Ratio) benchmarks are non-industry specific. Be sure to investigate the healthy levels for companies closely resembling yours. Trade Associations, Banks and Dun & Bradstreet are good sources of ratio comparative information.
Footnotes: Footnotes of assumptions and calculations are very important for a 3rd Party reviewer, such as a Banker. A Bank would be concerned in how restricted your Assets are, so an explanation for each Asset item would be in order. An investor would be very interested in the details of Owners Equity. A Banker would also be interested in a breakdown of Accounts Payable, detailing exactly when liabilities come due.
So when you are preparing your Business Plan or updating your Strategic Plan, or analyzing your company’s profits and cash flow, don’t forget to include analysis of your balance sheet.
Example Balance Sheet (Simple Format)
Assets
Current Assets
Fixed Assets
- (Less) Accumulated Depreciation
- Net Fixed Assets
Other Assets
TOTAL Assets
Liabilities
Current Liabilities
Long-Term Liabilities
TOTAL Liabilities
NET Worth / Owners Equity
Total Liabilities & Net Worth
About this Article Author
Frank Goley is a business plan consultant, business consultant and business turnaround consultant for ABC Business Consulting. Frank is an expert in writing, developing and implementing business plans, business turnaround plans, business funding plans, marketing plans, strategic plans and web marketing plans. Frank offers comprehensive business consulting, business coaching, business turnaround consulting, along with web seo, web development and web marketing consulting, to small and medium size companies.. Frank is author of the business plan book, The Comprehensive Business Plan Workbook – A Step by Step Guide to Effective Business Planning, and he has over 50 published articles on business success strategies. He also writes the Business Success Strategies Blog.
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