Accounting is the language of business.

If you buy stocks, you MUST learn how to read a balance sheet.

Here’s everything you need to know:

The balance sheet is one of the 3 major financial statements.

It shows company’s:

▪️Assets: What it owns
▪️Liabilities: What it owes
▪️Shareholders Equity: It's net worth attributable to its owners

At a fixed point in time
That “at a point in time” part is key!

A balance sheet is a SNAPSHOT of a company’s net worth.

It is usually measured at the end of a quarter/year.

That’s different from an income statement or cash flow statement, both of which are measured over periods of time
All balance sheets follow the same formula:

Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders Equity

This formula must be in balance at all times

(Hence the term “balance sheet”)
Side Note:

This formula can be easily re-arranged into the “net worth” formula that you are already familiar with

Assets - Liabilities = Shareholders Equity (Net worth)
Companies get soe leeway in how they categorize each item on their balance sheet

This graphic shows some of the most commonly used categories & terms
Let’s start with assets, which is what a company OWNS

Assets are listed in order of liquidity

(Liquidity means how quickly a security can be turned into cash)

The most liquid assets are at the top, the least liquid on the bottom
There are two categories of assets:

Current assets:
▪️Assets that are expected to be used in <1 year

Long-term assets:
▪️Assets that a company will benefit from for >1 year
Common current assets:
▪️Cash: Checking account, t-bills, CDs w/ <3 maturity
▪️Marketable Securities: Stocks, bonds...etc that can easily become cash
▪️Accounts Receivable: Money it is owed by its customers
▪️Inventory: Unsold goods
▪️Prepaid expenses: Insurance, rent, etc…
Long-term assets come in 2 forms:

1: Tangible Assets
▪️Buildings
▪️Equipment
▪️Property
▪️Stores

2: Intangible Assets
▪️Trademarks
▪️Goodwill (premiums paid to make an acquisition)
▪️Patents
▪️Stocks/Bonds held >1 Year
Now for Liabilities, which are what a company OWES

There are 2 categories of liabilities:

1: Current liabilities:
▪️Bills that will be paid in <1 year

2: Long-term liabilities:
▪️Bills that are due in >1 year
Common current liabilities (due <1 year):
▪️Short-term debt
▪️Accounts payable (money owed to suppliers)
▪️Interest
▪️Unpaid Wages
▪️Dividends
▪️Taxes

Common long-term liabilities (due >1 year):
▪️Long-term debt (also called "Notes")
▪️Customer pre-payment
▪️Taxes
▪️Pension
Finally, is shareholders equity

This is money attributable to the business owners (shareholders)
Common categories:

▪️Retained Earnings: Net profits a company reinvests in the business
▪️Treasury Stock: Money used to buy back stock
▪️Additional Paid-In Capital: Amount shareholders have invested beyond common/preferred stock
This thread is just a broad overview of the balance sheet

Want specifics & and a helpful example?

We did a deep dive into the balance sheet on my YouTube channel using $AAPL's recent numbers as an example

https://t.co/BTWrUomWe8
Enjoy this thread?

Follow me @Brianferoldi

I tweet about money, personal finance, & investing
Want to learn more about the income statement?

I have a thread on that too:

https://t.co/75PRb0EenB
Want to learn more about financial statements?

These three books are excellent resources:

More from Brian Feroldi

You May Also Like

Master Thread of all my threads!

Hello!! 👋

• I have curated some of the best tweets from the best traders we know of.

• Making one master thread and will keep posting all my threads under this.

• Go through this for super learning/value totally free of cost! 😃

1. 7 FREE OPTION TRADING COURSES FOR


2. THE ABSOLUTE BEST 15 SCANNERS EXPERTS ARE USING

Got these scanners from the following accounts:

1. @Pathik_Trader
2. @sanjufunda
3. @sanstocktrader
4. @SouravSenguptaI
5. @Rishikesh_ADX


3. 12 TRADING SETUPS which experts are using.

These setups I found from the following 4 accounts:

1. @Pathik_Trader
2. @sourabhsiso19
3. @ITRADE191
4.


4. Curated tweets on HOW TO SELL STRADDLES.

Everything covered in this thread.
1. Management
2. How to initiate
3. When to exit straddles
4. Examples
5. Videos on