Free balance sheet template for Excel (small business, with formulas)
A balance sheet shows what a business owns, what it owes and what's left for the owners on one date: assets = liabilities + equity. This free Excel template lays it out the standard way for a small business, with current and fixed assets, current and long-term liabilities and equity, a prior-date column with the change, a check that it balances, and working capital, current ratio and debt to equity worked out for you. Below: what's in the file, the format line by line, a worked example that ties to our trial balance and profit and loss templates, what changed between the two dates and why, and what to look for when a balance sheet won't balance.
Short answer: download the balance sheet template (.xlsx). Type the balance sheet date and each account's balance on that date as a positive number (accumulated depreciation, owner's draws and a net loss as negative). Total assets, total liabilities, total equity and the Balanced check calculate, with formulas, and an optional prior date gives a Change column. The Example is a fictional design studio at September 30, 2026: total assets of 84,190.52 = liabilities of 25,082.46 + equity of 59,108.06, using the same balances as our trial balance template's example and the net income of 63,767.12 from our profit and loss template.
Download the free balance sheet template (.xlsx)
Three sheets: a blank Balance sheet (this date, prior date, change), a filled-in Example and How to use. The accounts are the asset, liability and equity accounts from our chart of accounts template, with spare rows in every section. It uses only SUM, COUNT, ROUND, IF, AND, N, ABS and TEXT, so it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers. No sign-up, no email, no macros. It prints on one page width.
1. What's in the template
- Header: the business name, the balance sheet date and an optional prior date. The column headings fill in from the two dates.
- Account list: the asset, liability and equity accounts from our chart of accounts template (1000 Business checking to 3900 Retained earnings), grouped into current assets, fixed assets, other assets, current liabilities, long-term liabilities and equity, with spare rows in each. Yellow cells are inputs, so rename, renumber or add lines.
- Net income (loss) this year: a line in equity for the year-to-date result from your profit and loss statement.
- Totals: each section, total assets, total liabilities, total equity and total liabilities and equity, for both dates, and the Change between them.
- Checks and key figures (top right): the difference between assets and liabilities + equity on each date, working capital, current ratio and debt to equity, and a status line: Balanced: assets = liabilities + equity (84,190.52) or Out of balance by ...: assets are higher.
Need just one date? Leave the prior date and its column blank. A personal balance sheet (net worth statement) works the same way: rename the accounts to your bank accounts, home, car, mortgage and loans, and equity becomes your net worth.
2. The balance sheet format, line by line
| Section | What goes in it | Example accounts |
|---|---|---|
| Current assets | Cash and things that turn into cash within a year: bank balances, money customers owe you, stock, costs paid in advance | 1000 Business checking, 1100 Accounts receivable, 1200 Inventory, 1300 Prepaid expenses |
| Fixed assets | Things the business uses for years, at cost, less the depreciation taken so far (entered as a negative number) | 1500 Equipment, 1510 Furniture and fixtures, 1520 Vehicles, 1590 Accumulated depreciation (the depreciation schedule template works out cost and accumulated depreciation by account) |
| Other assets | Long-term items that aren't fixed assets: deposits, long-term loans to others | Spare rows |
| Current liabilities | What you owe within a year: bills, the card balance, tax collected or withheld, a line of credit | 2000 Accounts payable, 2100 Business credit card, 2200 Sales tax payable, 2300 Payroll liabilities, 2400 Line of credit |
| Long-term liabilities | Loans and other debts due after more than a year | 2700 Loan payable |
| Equity | What the owners put in, less what they took out, plus profits kept in the business | 3000 Owner's investment, 3100 Owner's draws, 3900 Retained earnings, net income this year |
The template uses the report form (assets above, liabilities and equity below), the layout QuickBooks and Xero balance sheet reports use. Strictly, a loan's next 12 months of principal is a current liability; most small businesses keep the whole loan in long-term liabilities unless their accountant splits it. For a corporation, equity lines are usually common stock, additional paid-in capital and retained earnings instead of owner's investment and draws.
3. Worked example: a design studio at September 30
The Example sheet is the fictional design studio from our trial balance and profit and loss templates. The September 30, 2026 column is the trial balance example's adjusted balances; the December 31, 2025 column is the year before, after last year's profit and draws were closed into retained earnings.
| Account | Sep 30, 2026 | Dec 31, 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current assets | |||
| 1000 Business checking | 13,440.52 | 7,748.39 | 5,692.13 |
| 1010 Business savings | 25,000.00 | 15,000.00 | 10,000.00 |
| 1050 Petty cash | 300.00 | 300.00 | 0.00 |
| 1100 Accounts receivable | 22,050.00 | 14,200.00 | 7,850.00 |
| 1300 Prepaid expenses | 2,000.00 | 2,000.00 | |
| Total current assets | 62,790.52 | 37,248.39 | 25,542.13 |
| Fixed assets | |||
| 1500 Equipment | 24,600.00 | 21,800.00 | 2,800.00 |
| 1510 Furniture and fixtures | 6,800.00 | 6,800.00 | 0.00 |
| 1590 Accumulated depreciation | -10,000.00 | -8,750.00 | -1,250.00 |
| Total fixed assets (net) | 21,400.00 | 19,850.00 | 1,550.00 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | 84,190.52 | 57,098.39 | 27,092.13 |
| Current liabilities | |||
| 2000 Accounts payable | 4,412.20 | 3,120.40 | 1,291.80 |
| 2100 Business credit card | 3,214.56 | 2,486.17 | 728.39 |
| 2200 Sales tax payable | 1,167.29 | 940.55 | 226.74 |
| 2300 Payroll liabilities | 1,288.41 | 1,210.33 | 78.08 |
| Total current liabilities | 10,082.46 | 7,757.45 | 2,325.01 |
| Long-term liabilities | |||
| 2700 Loan payable | 15,000.00 | 18,000.00 | -3,000.00 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | 25,082.46 | 25,757.45 | -674.99 |
| Equity | |||
| 3000 Owner's investment | 20,000.00 | 20,000.00 | 0.00 |
| 3100 Owner's draws | -36,000.00 | -36,000.00 | |
| 3900 Retained earnings | 11,340.94 | 11,340.94 | 0.00 |
| Net income (loss) this year | 63,767.12 | 63,767.12 | |
| Total equity | 59,108.06 | 31,340.94 | 27,767.12 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY | 84,190.52 | 57,098.39 | 27,092.13 |
Both columns balance, so the status line reads Balanced: assets = liabilities + equity (84,190.52). Accounts with no balance on either date (inventory, vehicles, line of credit) are left blank in the sheet and out of this table.
4. What changed since December 31, and why
Equity went up by 27,767.12: the year's net income of 63,767.12 (from the profit and loss template) less the owner's draws of 36,000.00. That's the link between the two statements: profit adds to equity, draws take it away, and nothing else changed equity this year because the owner put no new money in.
Cash (checking, savings and petty cash) went up by only 15,692.13, about a quarter of the profit. The balance sheet shows where the rest went:
- Customers owe more: accounts receivable up 7,850.00, profit not yet collected.
- Insurance paid ahead: prepaid expenses up 2,000.00.
- New equipment: 2,800.00, an asset, not an expense.
- Loan principal repaid: 3,000.00, which reduces the loan, not profit.
- Partly offset by bills and the card still unpaid: current liabilities up 2,325.01, and 1,250.00 of depreciation, an expense that didn't use cash.
Profit 63,767.12 − draws 36,000.00 − receivables 7,850.00 − prepaid 2,000.00 − equipment 2,800.00 − loan 3,000.00 + current liabilities 2,325.01 + depreciation 1,250.00 = 15,692.13, the change in cash. That's a cash flow statement in one line (our cash flow statement template lays it out in full), and the reason a profitable business can still be short of cash.
5. How to prepare a balance sheet, step by step
- Pick the date, usually a month, quarter or year end. Everything on the balance sheet is a balance on that one date.
- Reconcile the cash and card accounts to their statements for that date (our bank reconciliation template is the workpaper). Use the reconciled book balance, not the bank's available balance.
- Get every account's balance. In QuickBooks Online or Xero, run the Balance Sheet report for the date and export it to Excel. Keeping books in a spreadsheet? The general ledger template and trial balance template give you each account's balance.
- Check the accruals: unpaid bills in accounts payable, unpaid invoices in accounts receivable (an aging report lists them and should total the same), depreciation up to date, prepaid costs reduced for the months used.
- Enter the balances as positive numbers, with accumulated depreciation and owner's draws negative, and the year-to-date net income from your profit and loss statement.
- Check the status line says Balanced, then read the change column and the key figures.
6. When the balance sheet doesn't balance
| What you see | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Out by twice the accumulated depreciation or the draws | A contra account entered as a positive number. Make it negative. |
| Out by exactly the year's net income | Net income left out, or entered twice (once on its own line and again inside retained earnings). |
| Out by last year's net income | Retained earnings not updated after the year was closed. |
| Out by one account's balance | An account missing from the list, often a second bank account, the payroll liabilities or a loan. |
| Out by a round or odd amount and the trial balance doesn't balance either | A one-sided entry in the books. Fix it in the general ledger first; see when a trial balance doesn't balance. |
A balanced balance sheet still isn't proof the books are right: an expense coded to the wrong expense account, or a card payment booked as an expense, balances perfectly. Reconciling every bank and card account to its statement is what catches the missing and duplicated transactions.
7. Working capital, current ratio and debt to equity
| Figure | Formula | Sep 30, 2026 | Dec 31, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working capital | Current assets − current liabilities | 52,708.06 | 29,490.94 |
| Current ratio | Current assets ÷ current liabilities | 6.23 | 4.80 |
| Debt to equity | Total liabilities ÷ total equity | 0.42 | 0.82 |
Working capital is the cushion for paying bills due in the next year; a current ratio above 1 means current assets cover current liabilities. Debt to equity shows how much of the business is funded by lenders rather than the owner. What's healthy depends on the industry, and lenders set their own thresholds, so compare against your own past balance sheets first. The template works these out for the balance sheet date in the top-right box.
Building the balance sheet from bank statement PDFs?
Utilly's converter reads a bank statement PDF, downloaded or scanned, into Excel, CSV, QuickBooks or Xero files and checks the rows against the statement's beginning and ending balance, so the cash balance on your balance sheet starts from complete data. The preview is free with no sign-up. Try it on the sample bank statement first: every download of the sample is free because the data is fictional.
Method: the layout is the report-form balance sheet used by small-business accounting software (assets, then liabilities and equity), with current and non-current items separated. The example business and amounts are fictional; the September 30, 2026 balances are our trial balance template example's adjusted balances, and the net income is our profit and loss template example's. Template built and checked November 2, 2026: the Example sheet recalculates in LibreOffice to total assets of 84,190.52 and total liabilities and equity of 84,190.52 at September 30, 2026 and 57,098.39 on both sides at December 31, 2025, and its status line reads Balanced.
FAQ
What is a balance sheet?
A report of what a business owns (assets), what it owes (liabilities) and what's left for the owners (equity) on one date. Assets always equal liabilities plus equity, which is why it's called a balance sheet. It's also called a statement of financial position.
Is the balance sheet template free?
Yes. Download the .xlsx with no sign-up or email address. It has a blank balance sheet with a prior-date comparison, a filled-in example and instructions, and it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers.
Does the template have formulas?
Yes. Section totals, total assets, total liabilities, total equity, total liabilities and equity, the change between the two dates, the balance check, working capital, current ratio and debt to equity all calculate. You only type the balances.
Why doesn't my balance sheet balance?
Usually a contra account (accumulated depreciation or owner's draws) entered as a positive number, the year's net income left out or counted twice, retained earnings not updated after year end, or an account missing from the list. The template's status line shows the difference so you can match it to one of these.
What's the difference between a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement?
A profit and loss statement covers a period and shows income, expenses and net income. A balance sheet is a snapshot on one date. They connect through equity: the period's net income adds to equity on the balance sheet.
Can I use it for a personal balance sheet?
Yes. Rename the accounts to your own: bank and investment accounts, home and car as assets, mortgage, car loan and card balances as liabilities. Equity becomes your net worth (assets minus liabilities).
Related guides
- Free depreciation schedule template for Excel (fixed asset register, straight-line)
- Free aging report template for Excel (accounts receivable and payable)
- Free cash flow statement template for Excel (indirect method, with formulas)
- Free profit and loss template for Excel (monthly P&L, income statement)
- Free trial balance template for Excel (adjusted and extended)
- Free chart of accounts template for Excel (with QuickBooks and Xero import files)
Related tools
- Bank reconciliation checker: compare a bank statement to your books and list missing, duplicate and mismatched transactions.
- Receipt to CSV: turn PDF or photo receipts and invoices into CSV, Excel, or QuickBooks and Xero bill imports.
