Word of the Week 'Balance Sheet'Definition of Balance Sheet The balance sheet is prepared in order to report an organization's financial position at the end of an accounting period, such as midnight on December 31. A corporation's balance sheet reports its: Assets (resources that were acquired in past transactions) Liabilities (obligations and customer deposits) Stockholders' equity (the difference between the amount of assets and liabilities) You can view the balance sheet as reporting the assets and the c