Glossary
Balance sheet: a photograph of the assets at one date
The balance sheet presents, at a given date, what the company owns and what it owes. It reads in two balancing columns, and answers one simple question: what the company is worth today. The two columns balance by construction, at the closing date.
Two columns that balance
The balance sheet lists, at the closing date, the company's uses and sources of funds. On the assets side: what it holds, from buildings to inventory and customer receivables. On the liabilities side: what finances those items, equity and debt. The two columns balance by construction, and the gap between them reads as the value attributable to the shareholders.
- Assets say what the company holds, liabilities what finances it
- The two columns balance at the closing date
- Equity measures the value attributable to the shareholders
What a director looks for in it
The Finance and Accounting programme has candidates build a complete balance sheet from the year's entries, year-end adjustments included. The Business Management programme approaches it through reading: what the balance sheet says about a company before granting payment terms or committing to an investment.
| Assets — what the company holds | Liabilities — what finances it |
|---|---|
| Fixed assets: buildings, machinery, software | Equity: shareholder contributions and retained earnings |
| Inventory: materials, work in progress and finished goods | Financial debt: loans and bank facilities |
| Receivables: what customers still owe | Payables: what remains owed to suppliers |
| Cash: bank and till balances | Tax and social debt: taxes and contributions to settle |
Programmes that have you produce one
2 catalogue programmes put “Balance sheet” to work: 300 credits and 3000 taught hours in total. The official rule holds throughout — one credit stands for 25 hours of work, 10 of them taught. Every line below is recomputed from the programme page: level, duration, credits, taught volume and fees in Guinean francs appear exactly as filed in the official catalogue.
| Programme | Level | Duration | Volume | Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finance and Accounting programme — Bac+5 level | Master's degree | 2 years | 120 credits · 1200 taught hours | 6 800 000 GNF per year |
| Business Management programme — Bac+3 level | Bachelor's degree | 3 years | 180 credits · 1800 taught hours | 4 800 000 GNF per year |
Going further
How often is a balance sheet produced?
Once a year for the annual accounts, and more frequently for internal steering, depending on what management needs.
Do you need to be an accountant to read it?
A few landmarks suffice: asset structure, weight of debt, cash level. The Business Management programme installs that reading in a handful of sessions.
Balance sheet or income statement, what is the difference?
The balance sheet photographs a position at one date; the income statement recounts the activity of a whole period.
Explore next
- Income statementIncome statement: income, expenses, intermediate balances and how a director reads it, in IHETC management and finance programmes.
- Cash positionBusiness cash: the cash plan, the gap between receipts and payments, working capital needs, in IHETC programmes.
- DepreciationDepreciation: base, useful life, depreciation schedule, effect on profit and on the balance sheet, in IHETC programmes.
- Internal controlInternal control: segregation of duties, authorisations, traceability, reconciliations and risk mapping, in IHETC programmes.
- AuditAudit: preparation, documentary review, field observation, report and action plan, in IHETC compliance and safety programmes.
- ComplianceCorporate compliance: mapping obligations, procedures, retained evidence and steering, in IHETC legal and financial programmes.