Project 4

Training Room 1: The Beginning Balance Sheet

 

What I Need to Know

This training room will concentrate on preparing a beginning balance sheet, which is the first financial statement a business prepares before it opens its doors to customers.

 

Why Is This Important?

 

It is necessary for a business to know its initial financial position to see if it is making or losing money. This statement can also be presented to a financial institution to apply for a loan for seed or start-up money. Seed money is money to pay for expenses to start a business.

 

What Do I Need to Do?

 

Recall that in the last project Gurpreet Singh reviewed his personal balance sheet and decided that he could begin his own business. He can now determine what resources he has available to set up his business.

 

Gurpreet Singh’s personal balance sheet was as follows:

 

 

Let’s check out how he is doing by selecting the Gurpreet Singh Slide Show.

 

Certain formalities must be observed when preparing all financial statements. I will explain these formalities to you as we prepare the beginning balance sheet for Gurpreet’s business.

 

Many companies use accounting software programs to record their financial data on a computer. Various accounting software programs are available. You are going to use the spreadsheet program Excel¬Æ to prepare the beginning balance sheet for Gurpreet’s new company.

 

 

Open the accounting form called Balance Sheet Template, and save this in your FIN1015 Course Folder as Gurpreet’s Balance Sheet.

 

Columns are indicated with letters at the top of the spreadsheet, and rows are numbered on the left of the spreadsheet. Each box that your cursor is in is called a cell. The cell location of the cursor is at the top of your spreadsheet. In this case, it is A1 because the cursor is in Column A, Row 1. As you go through your training, please check under the Tips and Tricks in your Toolkit if you need further information about Excel®.

 

 

The first three lines on this form are for the heading, which includes the who, what, and when for the company. To learn more, view the video titled Beginning Balance Sheet Heading.

 

The first three lines on this form are for the Heading, which includes the Who, What, and When for the company.

 

You will go through the steps necessary to complete a beginning Balance Sheet for Gurpreet’s Snow Removal. Open a blank Balance Sheet Template, and save it in your FIN1015 Course Folder as Gurpreet’s Snow Removal.¬†

 

You may want to minimize this instruction page and the Balance Sheet on your screen to view them at the same time. To do this, refer to the video on Minimizing the Screen. This is also available in your Toolkit. You may also find it helpful to view the video titled Filling in a Balance Sheet. You may also want to look at Calculating Capital, Changing the Data Format, Number Formatting, and How to Rule the Balance Sheet.

 

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