Balance Sheets Using Excel

Setup

The fine details of a balance sheet will vary with your home finances or the company, expenses, employees and other technicalities of an organization, but the setup will be similar. Excel is already in a grid format with rows and columns of cells. The process of making a balance sheet starts by assigning column headers, usually in row A of the spreadsheet. In many cases, the two main headers will be "Assets" and "Liabilities" or options such as "Income" and "Expenses." A column of trackable categories, such as "Cash," "Taxes" and "Stock," is usually the first one to appear on the balance sheet, to the left of the two column headers.

Finalizing a balance sheet in Excel offers a number of different options. Adding a company logo or a family image to the balance sheet is possible by clicking Excel's "Insert" tab. Click the "Picture" button and browse to the image. Double-click the file and drag it into place on the spreadsheet. To move information around on the spreadsheet, such as bumping several asset categories down below others, highlight the cells. You'll see a blinking line surround the area. Right-click, select "Cut," move to the new location, right-click and select "Paste."

Creating balance sheets using Excel offers multiple benefits. An Excel balance sheet is electronic and therefore always changeable. Instead of cross-outs or splashes of white liquid paper, simply click into the cell to change and type the new information. You can assign versions to Excel spreadsheets, which means after completing the changes to the sheet, save it with a new name or file number (such as "BalanceSheetJune2011," for example), which lets you maintain and access all previous balance sheets. Another benefit of Excel is its auto-calculations and macros. For calculations on your balance sheet, you can simply highlight cells, such as your Accounts Payable column, and click Excel's "Sum" button. No calculators required. It will provide the sum of all the numbers in that column. With macros, you have to do a bit of up-front coding, but you may then apply the same macro to balance sheets over and over again.

While the Microsoft help feature, accessible by clicking the small blue question mark in a circle in the top, right corner of Excel's main workspace, doesn't offer advice on creating actual balance sheets, its searchable contents and user-supplied knowledge base may assist you in general setup and calculation configuration. Find information on how to make charts and graphs out of balance sheet information for use in visuals such as slideshows and annual reports or consult expert advice on how to make changes to the sheet such as shading alternate rows.