Overview: Introduction to the General-Purpose Financial Statements (Part C - Balance Sheet Format, Classified and Comparative)

Overview: Introduction to the General-Purpose Financial Statements (Part C - Balance Sheet Format, Classified and Comparative)

In this module we will dig deeper into the format of the balance sheet by introducing how the balance sheet should be titled, what subtotals and totals should be provided and how it should be balanced.

In addition, we will learn how to prepare a classified balance sheet using the concept of liquidity to classify assets and liabilities.  This idea of classification is the same that you might use when classifying seashells. In order to classify seashells properly, you would have to find a unique trait to classify them on.  For balance sheet accounts the unique trait that we use is liquidity, which represents how near the item is to cash.

Finally, we will learn about how to prepare a comparative balance sheet that provides ending balances for more than one period, thus providing useful information for trend analysis.

To Complete This Module

To complete this module, you will need to study all of the content pages and successfully complete the related topic and module quizzes. To successfully complete quizzes you need to achieve a score of at least 4 out of 5 for topical quizzes and achieve a score of at least 8 out of 10 for the module quiz. You may take and re-take quizzes as many times as necessary to master the material and get your passing score.

To track which content pages you have viewed and which quizzes you have successfully completed, click the "Modules" link on the course menu on the left.  A green check mark will appear to the left of each “Study” page that you have viewed and by each “Quiz” that you have successfully completed in the module. 

I anticipate that this module will take about 2 hours to complete.