A balance sheet is an accounting tool used to summarize the financial status of a business or other entity. It generally lists assets on one side and liabilities on the other, and both sides are always in balance. Assets and liabilities are divided into short- and long-term obligations including cash accounts such as checking, money market, or government securities. At any given time, assets must equal liabilities plus owners equity. An asset is anything the business owns that has monetary value. Liabilities are the claims of creditors against the assets of the business. A balance sheet is usually prepared each month, quarter of a year, annually, or upon sale of the business, in order to show the overall condition of the company.
Account payable means a debt payable by a person or company to a creditor, or an enterprise in the normal course of its business. Account payable is usually maintained in the form of a file or statement of account. Generally, when a bill is received from a supplier or creditor, it is added to the account payable and removed from it when the amount is paid. For example: bills obtained for goods or services received and not yet paid. The account payable of a household usually consists of ordinarily bills from the electric company, cable television, telephone company, or satellite dish service, newspaper subscription, and other such regular services. It is also known as payables, note payable, or trade payable.
