The balance sheet is a financial statement that shows the financial position of a company at a particular date.It is alternatively called a Statement of Financial Position.The balance sheet is prepared at least yearly，but is also customary to be prepared monthly or quarterly.The balance sheet consists of a listing of the assets and liabilities of a business and of the owner's equity.

The balance sheet may be arranged in either account form or report from.In the account form，the assets are listed on the left side of the page and liabilities and owners equity on the right side.Table 10-2 shows a balance sheet of RW Company in account format.In the report form the assets are listed at the top;the liabilities and owner's equity are listed below the assets.Table 10-3 shows a balance sheet of RW Company in report format.

Table 10-2

Table 10-3

All balance sheets contain the same basic information regardless of format:a heading consisting of three lines，the name of the company，the title of the financial statement，and the date for which it was prepared.The balance sheet consists of three sections，the assets section，the liability section，and the owner's equity section.The information is expressed in monetary terms and that the total of the assets is equal to the sum of the liabilities plus the owner's equity.