The Balance Sheet chart type is used to compare assets and liabilities (including cash and securities held) across multiple accounts at a particular point in time. When you first create a Balance Sheet chart, it will automatically populate with all visible accounts. Once you have configured the chart, you can generate a standard Balance Sheet report based on the information contained in the chart.
Create a new chart and choose the "Balance Sheet" option. Immediately to the right of the source list you will see a number of properties which are used to configure the chart:
Any changes made to the chart settings will update the chart automatically. Because charts are generated on-the-fly, you don't need to wait to see your changes take effect.
Start by choosing which accounts you want to include in the chart. Click the button to add a blank account item to the list. Click the item to show a pop-up menu from which you can choose the account you want to include. To remove an account from the list, select it and click the
button.
Set the following options to determine which transactions are used and how the chart will be displayed.
Once you have your chart settings configured the way you want them, you will see a pie graph to the right, with tabs to select whether to view your assets or liabilities. Click "Assets" to view a breakdown of all accounts with a net positive balance. Click "Liabilities" to view a breakdown of all accounts with a net negative balance.
Each pie slice represents the total balance of one of your accounts. The slices are drawn proportionally so that you can quickly get a sense of how your accounts compare. The name of an account is displayed with each slice; click any slice to view the associated account name, balance, and percentage relative to the other accounts shown on the graph. Press one of the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the selection to another pie slice.
Double-click a pie slice to "dig down" and break the slice into its component parts. Each asset or liability is considered to have two components: a cash value and the value of securities held in that account (though the latter only pertains to investment accounts). If you hold the Command key on your keyboard while double-clicking a pie slice, the breakdown of cash value and held securities for the slice you clicked will appear in their own pie graph.
Double-clicking on the "Held Securities" portion will dig down further and reveal the market value of individual securities held in that account. To "climb back up" towards the original pie graph, click the button at the top-left of the chart view.
Above the pie chart is a figure representing the total amount of your assets or liabilities, depending on which tab you currently have selected.
Balance Sheet reports provide a tabular breakdown of your assets and liabilities, including all cash in your accounts and securities you currently hold, at a particular point in time. Only accounts included in the chart setup will be counted.
Make sure you have a Balance Sheet chart selected in the source list, then click the button at the bottom of the main window. iBank will generate a PDF document of the report and open it using the
Preview application (or your default PDF viewer). From there, you can print the report or save it for your records; iBank does not save your reports internally.
If you check "Add Report to Quick Look" before generating the report, an image of the Balance Sheet report will be stored inside your data file. If you highlight your iBank data file in the Finder and press the spacebar to invoke Quick Look, you will see all of your saved reports in a slideshow format.
Across the top of each page of the report, you will see the date the chart was generated, the title of the report ("Balance Sheet"), the name of the iBank chart from which the report was generated, the page number, and the name of the application that created the report ("iBank").
The column on the left lists the names of your accounts, separated into two sections: assets and liabilities. Any account with a net positive balance is considered to be an asset; any account with a net negative balance is considered to be a liability. The column on the right lists each account's balance, with subtotals for the "Asset" and "Liability" sections.
At the bottom of the report is an overall total showing your combined assets and liabilities. This figure represents your Net Worth for the date indicated in the chart setup.
If you are using multiple currencies, the Balance Sheet report will subtotal the accounts based on the currencies assigned to them. Your net worth will also be broken down by currency. Unlike the dynamic charts, the standard Balance Sheet report does not apply currency conversions to your balances in order to provide estimates of the combined totals.