A balance sheet is a financial statement that provides a snapshot of a company's assets, liabilities, and shareholder's equity.

Balance Sheet Definition A balance sheet shows a company's assets, liabilities and shareholder equity at a single point in time. These financial statements are used to determine a company's health ...

You may hear the term “book value” thrown around in place of shareholders’ — or stockholders’ — equity, but more on book value will follow. What Is a Balance Sheet Used For?

Spotting creative accounting practices on the balance sheet can be broken down into three categories for analysis: assets, liabilities, and equity.

The balance sheet is so named because all of the assets have to equal, or balance out to, the liabilities and shareholder equity.