What to do when Balance Sheet does not balance?

After 3 hours of anxiety, cursing (under the breath) and a pair of strained eyes, I have finally managed to balance my balance sheet.

Background: I am required to do a valuation model for a single business segment based on a fully consolidated model - so I did the usual extraction, reference etc. Also required to conduct some analysis hence the full model of statements etc.

Following my sweet success, I would like to share my personal steps to folks new to full modelling who have a hard time balancing B/S:

1) Find the net difference of Net Assets and Equity.
2) Eyeball the figure with every line item to see if they are exact match (most encounter would be the lack of cumulative effect in the b/s)
3) If exact match found, you should pat yourself at the back and go rectify the mistake.
4) If Step 2 is unsuccessful, start simplifying your model in steps – take out complex assumptions, eliminate different tax/debt structure, and observe how the net difference changes.
5) Once net difference is eliminated when an item/assumption is removed – Voila! You hit the jackpot and you can go home on time (hopefully).

As said, I find these steps useful for amateurs. If you have a better methodology of balancing the B/S in general, do share!

 

in an internal model i onced received from a very large utility player in Germany, the balance sheet also did not balance, and who ever did that just created a line item called "magic balancing number" to make it work.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

If the difference doubles each year, its usually a flipped sign. Thats my first check.

You can also start deleting all lines (through all statements) relating to the same account to see if that makes it balance.

 

Unfortunately, there are a million things that could have gone wrong. Adding a few things as I referenced this post within the last day or two. Here are a few checks that helped me:

  1. Check the Deferred tax liability / Intangible Assets / PP&E and other formulas that depend on the previous year. I have definitely made the mistake of linking to the change on the cash flow statement without adding that number to the previous year (referencing deferred tax liability specifically here). You probably already know these (PP&E = Beginning PP&E + Capex - Depreciation) and (Intangible assets = Beginning IA - Amortization of IA)

  2. Another solid check is making sure you hit Ctrl+R on all of your formulas. I've gone back to change a formula in the initial projection year and forgot to drag it over to later years. You can eyeball for figures that don't necessarily make sense or have a logical trend. If you find any, you can use Ctrl+` to show the formulas and make sure they are correct

  3. Don't waste too much time on checking growth, etc. assumptions as those wouldn't impact whether the balance sheet balanced. Typically, there is either a formula error in the balance sheet itself or on the cash flow statement

I hope this helps someone out. A few of the other comments defintely helped me. Happy balancing.

 

New question. Anyone can help me please. Sorry for being a noob.

Is it possible that even if the links between balance sheet and cash flow statement are done properly but from cash flow statement, the ending cash flow (after adding to beginning cash flow), which will flow back to balance sheet is still negative?

Can this be resulted from assumptions (drivers)? After I increase values for drivers, no more negative cash.

Big thanks to whoever help.

 
Nobodythere:
New question. Anyone can help me please. Sorry for being a noob.

Is it possible that even if the links between balance sheet and cash flow statement are done properly but from cash flow statement, the ending cash flow (after adding to beginning cash flow), which will flow back to balance sheet is still negative?

Can this be resulted from assumptions (drivers)? After I increase values for drivers, no more negative cash.

Big thanks to whoever help.

Does the ending cash balance on the SCF tie to whats on the balance sheet?

 

If it is a small error - less than 0.02 - I consider it a rounding error and either ignore or add a couple cents to the other side to make it balance. After that I divide the error by 9. If the result is a whole number it is likely a transposition error. From there it is just a line-by-line check to see what digits were switched.

 

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