# Read the balance sheet

Review assets, liabilities and equity at a selected date and compare with an earlier date.

Canonical: https://demo.qixcount.com/help/reports/balance-sheet

Who can do this: Owners, or people with *View financial reports*

Where: Reports, then Balance sheet

The balance sheet shows account balances through one date. Assets are what the business holds, liabilities are what it owes, and equity is the remaining amount. You need **View financial reports** permission, or owner access.

## Select a date

1. In General, open **Reports**. In Nonprofit, use **Other reports** under **Nonprofit**, **Reports**, or the shared **Reports** group when shown.
2. Select **Balance sheet**.
3. Enter **As of Date**.
4. Select **Compare With** if you want **Previous Month** or **Previous Year**.
5. Select **Generate**.

The default date is today. The report includes posted entries on or before the chosen date. It groups assets and liabilities using each account's current or non-current setting.

![Balance sheet with a date filter, summary figures and account sections](https://demo.qixcount.com/images/help/reports-balance-sheet.webp)

## Understand the figures

| Figure | Meaning in this report |
| --- | --- |
| **Total Assets** | Current assets plus non-current assets. |
| **Total Liabilities** | Current liabilities plus non-current liabilities. |
| **Total Equity** | Equity account balances plus calculated earnings lines in General; total net assets in Nonprofit. |
| **Working Capital** | Current assets minus current liabilities. |
| **Balance Check** | Compares assets with liabilities plus equity. |

General includes nonzero balances from asset, liability and equity accounts, including inactive accounts. Contra accounts reduce their account type's total. In General, **Net Income (Current Year)** and **Earlier Earnings Not Yet Closed** appear when applicable. These calculated lines carry earnings that remain in revenue and expense accounts; a year-end close changes how those earnings are presented.

For Nonprofit, the section and summary card read **Net assets** and contain calculated net asset totals with and without donor restrictions. These are report groupings, not links to individual accounts.

Cards round to whole dollars; account rows show cents. A comparison adds earlier balances and changes for the rows present in the current report. An account that has only an earlier balance can be absent, so run the earlier date separately when checking the detail.

The trend chart uses month-end dates, including the end of the selected month. Its latest point can therefore use a later date than **As of Date**.

## What happens next

In General, select **Analyze** to request Qix analysis of the date and comparison you generated. Nonprofit also shows **Analyze**, but the current analysis input substitutes zero for its statement totals. Use the statement itself to check Nonprofit amounts. To inspect entries for an account, use the [general ledger](https://demo.qixcount.com/help/reports/general-ledger). You can also [export or print the balance sheet](https://demo.qixcount.com/help/reports/export-and-print-reports).